The Fate of the Furious (AKA Fast & Furious 8)

Dir: F. Gary Gray

2017

****

The Fast and the Furious franchise is one that has no business continuing for as long as it has, but it comes as a surprise, and a very pleasant one I might add, that the 8th attempt gets the balance right and nails what the franchise should have been all about in the first place. To be honest though, so they should after eight attempts, I mean, how many franchises have ever managed this and got away with it? I find it hard to remember the who, what and where's of the series, it's far too complicated, all I know is that all of the bizarre and complicated continuity issues have been dealt with and we can move on without worrying about any of them. The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift is far behind us and we shall speak of it no more. This is a fresh start in many respects and the beginning of a 'new trilogy' as Vin Diesel put it during the film's post-production. The elephant in the room is of course the void that the late Paul Walker has left. He also said of the new film "I was trying to keep it close to the vest throughout the release. Paul Walker used to say that an eighth film was guaranteed. And in some ways, when your brother guarantees something, you sometimes feel like you have to make sure it comes to pass... so if fate has it, then you'll get this when you hear about it. Furious 7 was for Paul, the eighth film is from Paul". You can't really argue with that, well you could but I'm not going to. His departure was dealt with rather nicely at the end of the last film, he is only mentioned once here and that is only to state that he shouldn't be involved in any further dangerous missions, given that he is now a father. It meant that Jordana Brewster's character was also written out of the story, which seems a bit harsh considering she had been there since the beginning but it is what it is I guess. To make up for the actors who have left the franchise, writer Chris Morgan has cleverly convinced previous actors to return and has developed a couple of interesting turns of events, although it does feel like they have directly replaced Walker's character with Scott Eastwood. The introductory scene started off horribly though and I had a heavy feeling in the pit of my stomach. It got a bit better and then had a steady climb on the entertainment graph. It hits full entertainment capability in the last adrenaline-packed action scene, with guest-star Jason Statham stealing the show comfortably. Once again the question of whether florescent-coloured cars were really needed in order for the team to complete their mission is raised but at this point it really is a case of who cares. Tyrese Gibson and Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges exchange banter, Dwayne Johnson doubles in size (especially when angry), Michelle Rodriguez looks confused and in 'mid-clench' at times of danger and Vin Diesel says the word 'family' a lot. It's Standard Fast and Furious stuff for the most part. However, everything feels just that little bit bigger somehow. The stunts are certainly bigger and more absurd than ever which has somehow become a good thing in this series. Any other film would be laughed at but somehow F&F makes the ridiculous okay, in-fact, the more ridiculous the better. The newer characters are developing nicely (apart from Nathalie Emmanuel) and Kurt Russell, Charlize Theron and Helen Mirren  give the film a bit of weight, like Hollywood is now ready to acknowledge the series and take it seriously. The street-racing element is long gone, but the step up from heist to crime-caper works surprisingly well. It's far from original but it works and comes as a pleasant surprise. I don't think I've calmed down as a reviewer, if anything I'm more critical than ever but at this stage you know what to expect from the franchise and it delivers everything is promises and more, which I just can't argue with. I was genuinely entertained throughout the movie, it's perfect pop-corn action and although I can wait, I do look forward to the next installment.