Fast & Furious 8: The Fate of the Furious

After a number of entertaining, pulse-raising and often frankly outrageous cinematic endeavours, the franchise is back for an eighth instalment. The Fate of the Furious has aimed to combat the loss of Paul Walker from the series with the use of stunning action pieces, staged with a flamboyance that’s surgical in its precision. In short, it appears that after 16 years and seven previous successes, director F Gary Gray has decided to give the people what they want.

The film picks up shortly after where the seventh left off. Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) finds his honeymoon rudely interrupted by the elusive Cipher (Charlize Theron), who blackmails him into turning his back on his crew and his values. His wife Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez) struggles to understand her husband’s betrayal, but must put her emotions aside as the team pit against their former leader to prevent the manufacturing of a nuclear war. Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson), Roman (Tyrese Gibson), Tej (Ludacris) and Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel) join the mission and, along with some shiny new hotrods, they all face trials that test them as never before.

It’s refreshing to see the use of Nitrous Oxide during the opening racing scenes – a moment of sentimental significance – however, it’s this opening sequence alone that holds any similarity to the previous films. Fate of the Furious no longer presents domestic life as something the protagonists are searching for, but instead as something they are now living. Comical “real life” moments, including Hobbs coaching his daughter’s little league team, show the struggles some of the crew are facing when balancing work and home life. The movie also delves deeper into the meaning of Dom’s family values, a term loosely thrown around previously, and tests his morals against the new challenge of caring for a younger family.

As the title suggests, The Fate of the Furious is bolder than anything seen from the franchise so far, embracing the use of CGI to a brand new level to create particularly breathtaking action sequences. These moments successfully countered with more humorous engagements between Johnson, Statham and Helen Mirren (a returning Jason Statham’s mum) is the formula that will allow the franchise to continue flourishing. The decision to make the main characters into a more militant, skills-orientated unit leaves the door open for future sequels, and with the sense of enjoyment that is derived from this movie, who are we to complain!

Guy Lambert

Fast & Furious 8: The Fate of the Furious is released nationwide on 12^th April 2017.

Watch the trailer for The Fate of the Furious here: