Two years after the bittersweet ending of Furious 7, we’ve all pondered if, perhaps, after the death of Paul Walker, if the franchise could still survive without one of its stars who’s been in the series since the original. Walker aside, the thing that has impressed me about this series, is how they took their street racing formula, retool it into a spy-action film & excel after that. This series was headed for “direct-to-video”-ville, at one point, putting a once-promising series in the scrapheap. F8 isn’t my favorite in the series (that honor goes to Fast 6), but there’s enough here to keep you satisfied. The film starts in Cuba with Dom (Vin Diesel) & Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) enjoying their honeymoon and races his cousin’s raggedy car. Dom wins the race backwards (yep, if the series couldn’t get anymore insane) & earns the respect of his competitor. Things take a turn when he encounters a woman named Cypher (Charlize Theron) who forces Dom to turn on his family to ad her in her conquest.
Before I get into my positives, I had a couple of issues with the film, particularly in the motivations of the main villain. I really loved Charlize in her role & is up there with F6’s Owen Shaw, but the difference between their intentions are night & day. Owen Shaw’s agenda in his villanious role, was to steal a device to sell it to a valuable bidder (and break many international laws doing it), while Cypher’s isn’t that clear cut. It’s made worse, when the movie attempts to humanize her. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work, yet, Charlize made it fun enough I was able to forgive her character’s weird writing. Also, the movie isn’t as fun as Fast 5 & 6, because there were so many high points in those movies & while Fate does indeed have its fair share of crazy moments (Like The Rock moving a torpedo to a different place was insane), something’s missing. Granted, there’s a lot of fun to be had with this film, I don’t think I’d want to watch it again for awhile. Think of an arcade shooter that you’ll have a lot of fun with the first time, but after you’ve tapped out all of what you’ve experienced, that’s it. Also, I can’t deal with the Dom-Letty romance plotline. Two actors who can’t sell romance & affection & it’s rough to watch. While not as excruciating as Furious 7, it’s still hard to watch when they try to sell it.
While my complaints seem significant, I really did enjoy this movie a lot more than the seventh installment. Everyone isn’t bogged down with the death of Paul Walker & are doing what they were doing before that messed up the chemistry with the cast. Jason Statham & The Rock are a hilarious tandem. If Universal goes through with a spinoff with those two, I’m in. Vin’s OK, as he’s the only one who’s treating this seriously, while Tyrese, Ludacris, Kurt Russell & Natalie Emmanuel are just living it up. This installment is my third favorite in the series after F7, while I have issues with it, it’s a good time. Oh, & I should’ve covered this earlier in this review, Gary F Grey did a solid of directing this film. Also, he’s a $1B dollars richer to boot due to the movie’s appeal overseas. Good for him.
4 out of 5
Good: Crazy stunts, Charlize Theron, not as depressing as the last film
Bad: Michelle Rodriguez & Vin Diesel can’t sell romance, too long for a Fast & Furious film, some of the female characters feel underwritten (*cough Ramsey cough*)
The Film Wanderer 