Summary
7 tech score
“The Fate of the Furious” (Universal)
”The Fate of the Furious” is the 8th movie in “The Fast and the Furious” franchise and this time it goes a little deeper and a little darker. The memory of deceased actor Paul Walker, who played Brian in most of the other movies in the series, still lingers. This adds to the melancholia of the movie and also strengthens the theme of “family first”.
In this movie Dom (Vin Diesel) goes rogue and assists new villain Cipher (Charlize Theron) with her extremely nefarious plans. Dom’s wife Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) is stunned by his actions as are the rest of the “F&F” group. “Mr. Nobody” (Kurt Russell), a low key federal agent, gathers them all together plus Hobbs and Deckard (Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham). These last two men are absolute enemies but will work together to thwart Dom.
On that fragile plot hangs a suspenseful and mega-exciting movie. The main draw is its action sequences. You get one beat en up, bust em up sequence after another and they all look great. I don’t know how much of this is CGI or good old stunt person action but it had me on the edge of my seat. When it started raining cars I knew I was watching something special.
The movie also has a good bit of humor. The banter between Roman and Parker (Tyrese Gibson and Ludacris) as well as Deckard and Hobbs had me laughing out loud. Their one liners fly as fast as their fists and always connect.
A real addition to the movie was the baby who plays a central role in the plot. This has to be one of the cutest babies around and he is a bright little actor already. I don’t know what they did to coax adorable expressions from him but it worked and worked big time! If he doesn’t melt your heart over and over then you are one cold hearted person.
Speaking of cold hearted, Charlize Theron turns on the heat and the chill factor as Cipher. She is drop dead gorgeous and kill dead evil. Whereas most villains have a bit of a soft spot somewhere, Cipher is cold as stone throughout the film. She is scary mean.
On the down side, this is a movie where a barrage of firepower never hits a single one of the good guys. They seem to have super powers when it comes to bullets. And the simple plot is too complex to follow. Hellen Mirren and Luke “Gaston” Evans are in the film but not nearly long enough. Brief cameos for them. Of course I wanted even a brief cameo from Jordana Brewster but didn’t get it.
The movie is rated R for profanity and violence.
This is a solid movie in the “F&F” franchise. It honors Walker’s memory and moves the story ahead – one action sequence at a time.
I scored “The Fate of the Furious” a baby faced 7 out of 10.
Jackie K Cooper
www.jackiekcooper.com
