Language is a funny thing. While every language can be mostly translated so that we can all understand each other, every language also has its own nuances that simply don't make sense to anybody else. Such is apparently the case with some movie titles. For whatever the reason, the concept of being both Fast and also Furious doesn't translate well into Japanese, which has resulted in the franchise being given the infinitely better title of Wild Speed on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. It only gets better when the new film's subtitle is added. We're all stuck watching some dully titled movie called The Fate of the Furious this weekend. In Japan, they get to go see Wild Speed: Ice Break. Which movie would you rather watch?
One gets the distinct impression that the movie was titled by somebody who just watched the trailer and then had to come up with something. It is true that ice, and the breaking thereof, is a big part of what we see as the cars are all chased by a submarine, that does eventually break through the ice. Still, we can also tell from watching the same trailers that a lot of the movie has nothing to do with ice, so we're afraid that the title may be promising more than it can deliver.
Wild Speed: Ice Break is just the latest in a long line of glorious titles that the Fast and furious franchise has received in Japan. The first sequels were given the titles Wild Speed X2 and Wild Speed X3: Tokyo Drift. We're not sure why they had an X (because they were Xtreme, maybe?). After that, however, things went absolutely nuts. was titled Wild Speed: MAX in Japan, and not to be outdone, Fast 5 was given the title, Wild Speed: MEGA MAX, which may be greatest movie title ever created. From there, we got Wild Speed: Euro Mission and Wild Speed: Sky Mission (because the cars parachute out of the sky at one point, you see). It's not clear why The Fate of the Furious isn't called Wild Speed: Ice Mission because that would just make sense.
The Fast and Furious movies aren't the only ones that have received some great new titles due to translation but they may very well be one of the franchises that ended up with better names due to the change. There's something about a movie called Wild Speed which just demands to be watched. The best part of the fact that we are guaranteed at least two more Fast and Furious movies may be that it means we'll get at least two more Wild Speed subtitles to enjoy.
