The Fate of the Furious
To say that Universal hit unexpected pay dirt with the “Fast and Furious” series is putting it mildly. You will never be able to convince me of a legitimate creative reason why this franchise, which was a big hit out of the gate in its original film back in 2001, has lasted eight films, with promise of at least two more. However, where money can be made, money will be made, and since “Fast Five,” which added The Rock in on the fun as a federal agent, Hobbs, who would become an ally with Vin Diesel’s Dominic Toretto, there’s been plenty of money to be made from this series. After “Furious 7,” however, and the death of Paul Walker, whose character, Brian O’Connor, was retired at the end of the film, would the series remain viable from a storytelling standpoint?
The retiring of Brian, and also Mia, Dom’s sister, looms large through the first half of “Fate of the Furious,” not because the characters themselves are talking about them, but because we feel like an integral part of the family of characters Dom has developed over the previous seven films is missing. The only actual mention of them is after the mechanisms of Chris Morgan’s plot have been put into motion, and Dom is working against his team, and working with a superhacker known as Cipher (Charlize Theron), who has him take an EMP (Electro-Magnetic Pulse) the team has just stolen in Germany. Why is Dom, whose guiding principle is not abandoning family, doing so now? It would have to be a pretty big reason, and although we have to go back in our memory banks in the series to do so, we come to one when we see what, or who, Cipher is holding over Dom for his cooperation with her. She presents an interesting problem for Dom’s crew to deal with in getting down to the bottom of this betrayal.
After really starting to enjoy the “Fast and Furious” franchise since 2011’s “Fast Five,” I’ve felt relatively disinterested about this latest chapter, probably because of the loss of Brian and Mia as part of the group after Paul Walker’s death. But Chris Morgan, who has written for the series since “Tokyo Drift,” has grown adept at writing these films and shaping them into an overarching story that makes sense, at least as much as this series, which introduces a car chase on ice and common criminals being utilized for top secret missions, can be. After James Wan moved on to DC’s “Aquaman” after taking the reins from Justin Lin for “Furious 7,” Universal hired F. Gary Gray, an action veteran (“The Negotiator” and “Set It Off”) who just gave the studio a massive hit in “Straight Outta Compton” to direct the newest installment of one of their flagship franchises, and while it’s solid craftsmanship, I’d like to see Gray get back to serious filmmaking soon rather than later. For the first half of the film, my disinterest in this film made it feel predictable and tired when it started out, but once we start to understand why Dom is doing what he’s doing, and seeing that he has his own play he’s making (three cheers for his scene with Helen Mirren; yes, THAT Helen Mirren), this film finds an emotional purpose to go with its convoluted story and set pieces, and we feel the weight of what’s happening on all the characters like we did during the fifth and sixth films, in particular. All of the actors, including The Rock, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Michelle Rodriguez and Nathalie Emmanuel as the rest of what’s left of Dom’s crew, Jason Statham and Luke Evans as the British brothers the team fought against in 6 & 7, and the always enjoyable Kurt Russell returning as Mr. Nobody, know their lanes in this film and run with them, and that includes newcomer to the series Theron, although her role is a bit of a disappointment after “Mad Max: Fury Road.” I felt like the last film took a couple of steps back for the franchise, but with the way this one ended up, I might be able to get interested in watching this series reach its finale.
