The Fate of the Furious

The Fate of the Furious

Starring Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Charlize Theron, Jason Statham

Directed by F. Gary Gray

The Story:
After marrying his longtime love Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) is relaxing in Cuba on their honeymoon when he's met by a mysterious stranger (Charlize Theron), who blackmails Dominic to turn against his team and work with her to steal some of the most top secret, deadly weapons in the world.

Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell) brings in Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and his former enemy Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) to work together to bring Toretto in, and he also enlists his former team members Letty, Roman (Tyrese Gibson), Tej (Ludacris) and Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel).  Most of them don't believe Dominic really turned, but the truth is far more deadlier than they could imagine.

The Synopsis:
There's something fascinating about the "Fast and the Furious" franchise, and it's the fact that many people don't mind the incredibly mind-numbingly lack of any form of intelligence (proven by the fact that I just typed "numbingly," which isn't a word, and I didn't even go back to fix it).  The series is the ultimate escapist series, filled with beautiful women, fast cars, exhilarating action and some of the best action stars in the business.  When you have those going for you, why would you ever need a cohesive story or anything that makes any lick of sense?

For most of the franchise, you didn't really need one.  They rode the wave of good-natured togetherness to box office success, relying solely on those mainstays and also focusing on the importance of family - even if it's not blood family.  However, with this installment, there was an essence missing from the mixture.  It's sugar and spice, but not everything nice.  That has to do with two major factors, one out of their control, and one totally within their control.

The biggest thing is the absence of Paul Walker, who unfortunately passed away a few years ago.  He died before the seventh film was completed, and when it was released there was a resounding chorus of praise because it was his final run in the F&F franchise, something he's been a part of since the beginning (with the notable absence in the third - and easily weakest - installment).  While his absence was mentioned in the film, it feels like it wasn't done in a sensible way.  If his best friend and brother-in-law suddenly turned against his best friends, no matter what, they would've brought him in.  Still, his death was out of their control and it would've been worse if they had recast his role, so I can't fault them for not including him in the movie, but it still took away some of the emotional impact.

The other issue was the widely publicized feud between Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson.  Diesel has been the mainstay in the franchise, appearing in every previous film, while Johnson joined the crew in the fifth film.  However, Dwayne Johnson is one of the highest paid actors in the field, and there was a huge feud between the two men during production, since Diesel also served as a producer who canceled some of Johnson's scenes at the last minute (including an after-credits scene that Diesel scrapped because it focused on Dwayne Johnson's character).  Vin Diesel was also late to shooting, resulting in actors and crew waiting for hours until he arrived.  The two couldn't resolve their differences, and Dwayne Johnson was also on record saying "When you watch this movie next April and it seems like I'm not acting in some of these scenes and my blood is legit boiling - you're right."  The heart and soul of the franchise is the theme of family, and seeing how the actors conduct themselves on the outside affects how they interact on screen, and it showed that the family was fractured, and not just because Toretto's character supposedly turned.

Another thing the film has going against it is franchise fatigue.  We can only see the banter between Tyrese Gibson's Roman and Ludacris's Tej so many times before it grows stale.  There's only a certain number of times we can see wild car chases through the streets before succumbing to "I've seen this before," even if this time the race involves an old jalopy.  The franchise has to keep one-upping itself, and here it achieves that by having the crew run from a nuclear submarine...it's so ridiculous I'm pretty much at a loss of words to describe it.

Also, for those who saw Vin Diesel in the recent "xXx" movie might suffer from deja vu like I did during this film for several reasons:
-Both star Vin Diesel
-Both featured blonde-haired female villains
-Both took place primarily on an airplane
-Both villains had a muscle-bound sidekick
Thankfully, this helps in the "Fate's" favor, as it's a far superior action film compared to "xXx."

Even though I'm knocking on it, I still found myself fully enjoying myself yet again.  The cast was still fun, the action was still amazing, and the addition of Charlize Theron was a much-needed shot-in-the-arm.  Dwayne Johnson was hilariously over-the-top in his antics and zingers.  However, the biggest scene-stealer goes to Statham, as he has hands down the best action sequence in the film, and possibly the entire franchise, that I won't give away because it simply needs to be seen to be believed, and even then it's rather unbelievable. 

The story is, as the series go, as flimsy as they come.  No one would believe Toretto would turn on his team if it weren't for a very good reason, and that reason is indeed a very good one.  Still, the reason Charlize Theron's character wants what she wants is your typical "take over the world" purpose - if only to hold it more accountable.  Again, it doesn't make much sense for her to enlist Toretto to do this when she has the entire world's technological world at her fingertips, but without that added sense of danger it would make the film have less of an impact, although it would make it shorter than its 136 minute runtime.

The Summary:
One thing is sure for this franchise, and it's that it isn't going anywhere anytime soon.  While it's missing some of its core components, this eighth installment included enough dizzying action, humorous antidotes and big-named stars to make it a truly escapist film, and one that's still fun to watch.

The Score: A-