THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS (2017) ****

If you watch The Fast and the Furious movies because you love to watch guys racing cars, then you’re going to love the opening scene of this eighth installment.  It begins with Vin Diesel stripping down a piece of shit car down to its nuts and bolts and fitting it with nitrous oxide in such a harebrained manner that it would make Wile E. Coyote nervous.  If you’re a fan of the racing aspects of the series, you may be disappointed as there are no more race scenes after that.  If you’re like me and are a fan of the franchise to see some wild ass action sequences, you’re in for a treat.  The Fate of the Furious is the wildest, craziest, most exhilarating film of the series.  It’s also its best.

I didn’t think they could top the last two Fast films, but F. Gary Gray (who had previously worked with Diesel on A Man Apart) did just that.  There are some action sequences in this flick that are so insane that even James Bond would be jealous of them.  In fact, I think the only way to top this one would be to pull a Moonraker and send the cast into space.  I’m not even joking when I say they could probably pull it off too.

I don’t want to get too into plot specifics because the twisty plot is part of the fun.  All you need to know is that Vin Diesel turns his back on his Fast and Furious family to work with a notorious hacker (played by Charlize Theron at her absolute slinkiest) to steal several objects that when all put together could spell doom for the entire planet.  The only way to stop them is for his tight-knit family to join forces with their arch nemesis, Jason Statham.

What I love about this series is that it’s essentially a male soap opera.  People die, come back to life, turn on their closest friends, betray the ones they love, and no one really bats an eye.  This is actually the second time in the series when someone has turned bad, and I’ve lost track of all the times that the “bad” guy has been made to join forces with the “good” ones. 

Ultimately, the “family” aspect of these films is what gives them their center.  Because no one is perfect in a family, Diesel’s circle of friends is more apt to forgive and forget when one of them (including him) goes rogue.  Even when Statham chooses his new path, it’s out of obligation for his family (including his mother, whose identity I would not dream of giving away because her reveal is one of the biggest joys of the movie).

It’s those crazy action sequences that give the film its kick.  There’s one scene that left my jaw agape for several minutes.  That of course was the scene where Theron hacks into a bunch of cars and takes control of them and causes thousand-car pile-up.  That is not an exaggeration.  There are a thousand cars and they do wind up piled on top of each other.  It’s amazing. 

Then there’s the scene where Theron takes control of a Russian submarine and commands it to shoot torpedoes at our heroes.  Naturally, The Rock, selfless man that he is, redirects the speeding torpedo with his bare hands!  Let’s see James Bond do that!

 

Everyone gets their particular moments to shine.  The Rock gets plenty of laughs and Tyrese Gibson has some good moments playing off Scott Eastwood, who plays Kurt Russell’s right hand man.  It’s Statham who steals the movie though.  He gets one sequence where he must save an infant that is as great as anything in a Transporter film.  It’s so awesome that you’ll be wishing he teams up with Diesel for The Pacifier 2.