Saturday, April 15, 2017

Movie Review: THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS


Howdy fellow film freaks, Robert here. The Easter bunny brought us a hell of a treat this year, friends: chocolate, and a new Fast and Furious movie. I got to take the day off work and watch the Toretto gang do cool stuff in flashy cars while I munched on my Cadbury mini eggs. Life is good today.


In case you were unaware, or just trying hard to ignore it, The Fate of the Furious is, in fact, the eighth installment of this ongoing saga of dream cars and the men and women who love them. If you're not excited about that, I can dig it, but if you wanna start ranting about unnecessary sequels in series that have had their day, I'd just like to point out that there have been 26 James Bond movies, and #27 is on the way. So I'll keep on enjoying my stupid car flicks, thanks.

I won't argue that there is a certain repetition in the Fast and Furious world. Since the series morphed into a bat-sh*t crazy superhero saga around F&F 4 or so, it's been one more international criminal getting up to no good, and then getting shut down by Vin Diesel and his motley band of wisecracking gearhead criminals. This one is no exception. Filling the big-time criminal role is Charlize "Furiosa" Theron, as a superhacker known as Cipher. If you've seen the trailers, you know Dom turns on his crew, and just as I thought, it's because Cipher has him by those famed short-n'-curlies. But that's what I love about this series: the Fast and Furious franchise has always been comfortable in its own proverbial skin. This is a big, flashy popcorn series that takes automotive action sequences to cartoonish, reason-defying realms, and every movie unapologetically owns that stuff. The Fate of the Furious actaully manages to raise the bar a little, opening with a one-on-one race that Dom wins by doing the literally impossible. It even beats that part in the last movie where they jumped a Lyken Hypersport between skyscrapers. That was unlikely; what Dom does at the start of this movie does. Not. Happen.

Like the installments that came before it, The Fate of the Furious doesn't waste energy trying to be something it's not. If you don't like the Fast & Furious series by now, you're never going to, so this movie is aimed squarely at the fan base. References to previous movies, and characters from those movies beyond Toretto's gang, appear throughout. I caught references to F&F's 1, 4, 5, 6, and 7, myself. If you're starting with this movie (and welcome to the club, if so), you may want to bone up a little first. But even if you aren't prepared for every reference and easter egg, you're still in for a fun time. Luke Hobbes (Dwayne Johnson) gets some of his best lines in the series, the chemistry between the crew is as good as ever, and the action sequences are still works of a very peculiar kind of art. Watch for a prison riot early on that's choreographed so every impact and gunshot syncs up with the beat of the dubstep club-banger playing in the background. The Fate of the Furious is looking for no one's approval, and that makes it another worthy entry into this long-running series.

Now: let's talk about the rumors (without spoiling anything, of course). In the months leading up to this film's release, there was talk that Detective Brian O'Connor, so ceremoniously released from his service in the last installement, would be returning, despite the fact of actor Paul Walker's death. Rest easy, friends; though the Buster does get mentioned a couple of times, he never shows his face, not even in a flashback. This is as it should be.

There's also another rumor, making the rounds on the Facebooks and other such places, regarding certain of this movie's key plot developments. All I'll say is: don't believe everything you read.

The Fate of the Furious is aimed at a specific kind of movie-goer, the kind that's looking to have a good time and doesn't need their entertainment to reaffirm their intelligence. True, this movie may insult it a little, but I wish more action movies took themselves as non-seriously as this without dressing the caracters in spandex. What a wonderful world that would be.

The Fate of the Furious is rated PG-13 for prolonged sequences of violence and destruction, suggestive content, and language.

Robert's Score: 8 / 10



Make sure to check us out and like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and Instagram for all of our reviews, news, trailers, and much, much more!!!

No comments:

Post a Comment