The Fast and Furious franchise gets another high-octane, action-packed addition with The Fate of the Furious.
The movie is the eighth film in the saga and sticks to the same street racing and over-the-top stunts rubric that led to the franchise’s early success in 2001 with Fast and Furious.
The cast is full of the same lovable characters such as Dominic Torreto (Vin Diesel) and Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson). It also features some who are new to the film such as Charlize Theron (The Italian Job) and Jason Statham (The Transporter Trilogy). F. Gary Gray directs — the fifth director of the saga — and is a veteran in the action film genre, having directed movies such as Law Abiding Citizen and The Italian Job.
The film begins with Dominic and Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) on their honeymoon in Cuba. “Dom” soon has to put his racing skills to the test and raced in his cousin’s beat up 1949 Chevrolet Fleetline against a 1956 Ford Customline.
The backbone of the franchise has always been larger-than-life stunts and tons of explosions. However, this movie features a more interesting storyline. Dom’s relationship with his family is intriguing, especially for those who are hardcore fans of the franchise.
Moviegoers get a deeper look into Dom’s psyche, and what makes him who he is. Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson are both action juggernauts, allowing for an interesting conversation surrounding the question of who would win in a fight. Viewers have already started a Twitter war, using the hashtags, #teamVin and #teamDwayne.
The franchise is the highest grossing movie franchise in Universal Studios history, and the success is due to the interaction that the cast has with the fans and how the movies are centered around what the fans want to see.
However, the movie can get repetitive with the action scenes and the dialogue. If you have not seen all of the films in the franchise, you will not have a personal connection with the characters, and some scenes may not pull you as much as it would someone who is an avid fan. Although it doesn’t have a reputation of being a family-friendly franchise, the films really do center on family, providing a lot of emotional scenes that pull your heart strings. The film also does an excellent job in remembering the late Paul Walker, who played Brian.
The film is rated PG-13.
Rating: 3/4
Photo courtesy of Universal Studios