Of course, cynical sorts might suggest that the untimely death of Paul Walker midway through filming of Fast and Furious 7 gave the series a sympathetic second-look from audiences that might have otherwise abandoned it. That though would underplay the strangely appealing alchemy of the franchise in the past several instalments, which has seen it evolve from a gruff drag race B-movie to something far more universal: a turbocharged mix of cars, quips and explosions, with just the merest hint of sentimentality to keep the date-movie crowd sweet.
For The Fate of the Furious – variously referred to as Fast & Furious 8, Fast 8 or, for those really pressed for time, F8 – another bolt-on has been attached to its action-film chassis, that of the high-stakes cyberthriller. It’s an incongruous addition, and one that frequently seems in danger of lurching into techno-jargon incomprehensibility; but things race along at such a ferocious lick you scarcely have time to question the moments of incongruity [chiefly, how can so many supercars be also somehow explosion-retardant].
The set-up: Dom, Vin Diesel’s sonorous-voiced crim with a heart of gold, is living in Cuba with his belle, Letty [Michelle Rodriguez]. Life is sweet, and there’s talk of starting a family, but crashing into view comes Charlize Theron’s Cipher, a tech-savant terrorist, whose aptitude with a keyboard would make Anonymous blush. With one swipe of her smartphone, she’s blackmailed Dom with some inconvenient detail from his past, and he’s soon helping her steal a series of powerful doohickeys that together might just bring about nuclear destruction.
Standing in Dom’s way in this endeavour are his old racing pals, including Dwayne Johnson’s law-enforcement-officer turned speed-racer, and – in a nice twist – Deckard Shaw, Jason Statham’s big bad from the last outing, now performing the role of acid-tongued antihero. Statham’s inclusion is F8’s smartest move, his snarky one-liners and aptitude for hand-to-hand combat helping to break up the sometimes exhausting in-car sequences. Indeed, there’s one gloriously goofy action sequence, where Shaw battles his way through a plane full of goons, that equals anything from the adrenalised mania of Statham’s Crank films.
Theron too has great fun with the nefarious Cipher, despite the character often seeming drawn-on-the-back-of-a-napkin flimsy. She does an awful lot with very little, purring out extended monologues about choice theory and human nature just like Malcolm Gladwell with access to the nuclear football. And there’s an enormously entertaining cameo from Helen Mirren, channelling her inner Pat Butcher as the gobby mother of Statham’s Shaw.
Crank call ... Jason Statham in The Fate of the Furious. Photograph: AP
Of course these brief flourishes of character acting are merely aperitifs to F8’s main course: to batter you into submission with pyrotechnic set pieces. There are three here, of which one – a confusingly edited sequence on the Siberian wastes – falls somewhat flat. Better is an opening sequence in which Diesel races a supercar with a nitrous-oxide-fuelled old banger, which should appeal to anyone who enjoyed the franchise in its early, motor-obsessed iterations. And, in the film’s central set piece, Cipher hacks into seemingly every car in New York City and points them in the direction of a motorcade protecting the Russian defence minister. There’s a convincing thriller to be made about our technophobia around the self-driving-car revolution. Make no mistake, F8 isn’t it; but it’s still an effective – and spectacular – scene.
Ultimately, you suspect that the future of the series rests on its ability to find new ways of making cars bash into each other feel somehow novel. For now it’s managing to do that – and the series’ broadening of its action palette is a sensible way of keeping things fresh. But what kept the franchise afloat during those lean times was its melodrama-soaked character moments and, bar some extended relationship turmoil between Dom and Letty, and a couple of nice nods to the late Walker, they’re relatively thin on the ground. Instead this is a big dumb action movie in its purest, most honourable sense: fast, furious and frequently fun.
When a dark figure blackmails Dom Toretto [Diesel] into turning against his crew, it’s up to Luke Hobbs [Johnson] to stop his old friend, and perhaps save the world into the bargain, with the help of a deadly foe [Statham].
The number 8 sat well on Steven Gerrard, but not necessarily on movies. Fast & Furious 8 — a more mundane moniker over here, changed from the appropriately overblown The Fate Of The Furious across the Pond — sets out to break a curse that took down the likes of Friday The 13th and The Pink Panther. And it does so in much the same manner that transformed the franchise from an also-ran into one of the world’s biggest box office behemoths: by doubling down on daft. This is no longer a down-and-dirty series about loveable carjacking criminals; it’s a globetrotting, scenery-smashing, logic-jacking extravaganza. Fast 8 is more of the same, more or less, with the emphasis heavily on more.
It starts sedately enough, with an almost entirely extraneous sequence in which Vin Diesel’s carjacker-turned-Dom Toretto and his wife Letty [Rodriguez] are on holiday in Cuba, getting caught up in one of the franchise’s seemingly contractually obliged street races. By the end, though, that pesky escalation has delivered a true first for movies — a submarine-car chase. In-between, enough vehicles are totalled to make the end of The Blues Brothers look like the start of The Blues Brothers.
These action sequences are handled comfortably by new director Gray, even if there’s nothing here to rival the sustained insanity of the bus chase in Fast 7. Instead, it’s during the film’s frequent bursts of exposition that Gray struggles, with the scenes in which the crew members each explain something while looking at monitors heavily redolent of TV shows such as NCIS. They further reinforce the long-held feeling that some of the supporting characters aren’t really that compelling. Thank the Lord, then, for three actors who are having the time of their lives.
First, there’s Kurt Russell, whose Mr Nobody rocks up from time to time to helpfully explain what the hell’s going on. The action stuff he leaves to newcomer Scott Eastwood [just when you thought there was no more vroom at the inn, this movie has more characters than TwitLonger] as his deputy, Little Nobody. But whenever Russell’s on screen, his eyes twinkle like a man enjoying one hell of a career resurgence.
The second is Dwayne Johnson, which should come as no surprise. The introduction of his super-cop Luke Hobbs to Fast Five was integral to the franchise’s evolution from callow contender to self-aware, sweat-drenched, gloriously silly blockbuster champ. And here, with Paul Walker’s Brian O’Conner absent for obvious, tragic reasons, the bulk — literally and figuratively — of the movie’s action falls to him. And he steps up to the preposterous plate, whether it’s tackling a torpedo with his bare hands, or exchanging choice insults with Jason Statham.
The Stath’s Deckard Shaw was the bad guy last time around, hunting down The Car-azy Gang one by one and giving good enough glower for them to keep him alive. This time around, thanks to reliably ridiculous retconning, he’s on the side of the angels, and actually emerges as the film’s MVP. There’s no glowering here — this version of Deckard Shaw is a quip-happy one-man-army that utilises Statham’s natural charisma in a way Hollywood has mostly missed until now. His standout sequence, though it borrows liberally from John Woo’s Hard Boiled, is huge heaps of fun. Give this man his own spin-off.
Russell, Johnson and Statham, of course, are in on the joke. Something that doesn’t seem to be the case with Vin Diesel. And to reflect that, while Dom’s crew are off taking care of the Fast, Diesel is stuck with the Furious in his own little rather dour, melodramatic movie with Charlize Theron’s villain Cipher, who doesn’t get to do much except stare at computer screens and bark standard-issue threats. Mind you, even here escalation is inevitable: just when you think this storyline will be a fun-free zone, Diesel finally gets a couple of scenes with Dame Helen Mirren [complete with slightly dubious Cockernee accent].
Oh, and there’s further good news: if you’re playing the Fast & Furious drinking game, where you take a shot every time Vin says “family”, you’ll be pished as a newt about an hour in. Now that’s a win-Vin situation.
A movie to which the brake pedal is but a rumour. If you can’t abide the Fast franchise, you’ll be furious, but fans will have a nitrous oxide blast.
Just so you know, whilst we may receive a commission or other compensation from the links on this website, we never allow this to influence product selections - read why you should trust us
Why is Hobbs in jail in Fast 8?
Along the way, Hobbs was arrested due to the off-the-books nature of his mission, and was forced to go rogue yet again by breaking out of prison with mercenary [and previous Fast enemy] Deckard Shaw [Statham].
Is Fast and Furious 8 worth watching?
I really had a great time with The Fate and the Furious, or as some call it, Fast 8. It's just as good as the previous film, Furious 7, which was great. The cast is mostly the same as the last movie, with the exception of Paul Walker of course and with the addition of a few new characters.
Why does Dom betray his family in fast 8?
Cipher kidnapped Elena and their son and held them hostage to force Dom to do her bidding. Feeling the responsibility to protect his son, Dom is driven to betray his loved ones, including Letty, and his own personal code.
Why Fast and Furious 7 is so good?
Furious 7 is the best movie of the franchise primarily because of its emotional core. This core is largely made up of all the ways in which the late Paul Walker's memory is preserved on screen.