Fate of the Furious

Well here we are another year and another Fast (insert verb/nouns here) movie. Here we have Fate of the Furious, a title that should have been saved for another film as it sounds lie it will be a cliffhanger type of ending. Sadly it is not and by the end everything is 99% fine.

 

The plot is pretty thin, but we aren’t here for plot now are we? We are here for action action action! There is a super militarized computer hacker genius named Cipher. They are after weapons, EMP devices, nukes and all the bad villain clichés.  The Rock, now a stay at home dad and soccer coach, is recruited to stop this Cipher and associated goons. He of course nabs Domenic Toretto and the other Fast members to help.

This is where the film goes akimbo as Domenic Toretto goes rouge and  turns on his team. Why? Well Cipher, now Charlize Theron, has some leverage over him. This lands the team hiding and The Rock in prison with previous film bad guy, Jason Statham. Of course this leads to the building of a buddy cop type friendship between these two characters as guess what? They have to work together to stop Cipher and rouge Dom.

This is accomplished by Kurt Russell returning as Mr. Nobody and appearing and disappearing throughout the film like the Dungeon Master from that 80’s D&D cartoon. He aslos drags along Clint Eastwood’s kid as his go between (and as a probable new team member for the future films). Kurt Russell and Clint Eastwood kid set The Rock and Co. up with weapons and cars to stop Cipher and the now evil Dom.

 

Now the action really ramps up as New York is laid waste via a ton of remote control cars and explosions. Then there is the travel to Russia to fight/stop a sub and missile firing trucks while on a frozen bay. Not to mention the vignette of Jason Statham kicking ass all throughout a plane trying to save the big plot point/ Mcguffin and a stop Cipher at the same time! Of course they toss in a healthy dose of Tyrese and Ludacris back and forth. Impossible stunts and driving! Insane fight scene! A lot more Rock and Statham back and forth. Explosions! A delightful cameo from Helen Mirren. Action! Action! Action! A surprise cameo from a previous film villain that really felt a bit tacked on, but was sort of fun at the same time.  

 

What was really strange about Fate o’ Furious was that it was really light hearted compared to the previous films. Plus it was also a very Rock/Statham fueled film over a Vin Diesel film. That is what was really strange. Every other film was a Vin Diesel and Paul Walker  driven (see what I did there!) film. Here the best stuff was between Rock/Statham. The lighter tone, humor and different character chemistry really made for a much different Fast film experience.

Honestly after Furious 7, I thought this franchise was over. Then after making a bazillion dollars I guess the studio said more! I thought was a great end to this saga about, what was originally, street racing thieves that had now become larger than life quasi- super heroes. There are two more Fast films on the horizon and eventually an end to this franchise. I’m not sure where they are going or what they are doing. Even this film had a fairly tight ending with only one thread out there to use for another film. Another film that is definitely getting made as this installment made a bazillion dollars as well.

I guess if you liked the previous 7 films you will enjoy this one too.

Still not sure what the whole Fate bit in the title was about?