Theatrical Release: April 14th, 2017
Genre: Action, Adventure, Crime
Rated: PG
Theres one thing for certain about any of the Fast and Furious movies, that you are pretty much guaranteed to be entertained. Do you like fun? then you’ll probably enjoy at least one of the movies in this franchise. They are the perfect amount of dumb fun and popcorn entertainment. I was intrigued to see where they would go next in this franchise, as the last film marked their send off to Brian O’Connor’s character played by the late Paul Walker who passed away in 2013. I didn’t really know where this film would go from the trailer, but I knew I wanted to see it.
The Fate of the Furious is an Action, Adventure, Crime film about a mysterious woman seduces Dom into the world of terrorism and a betrayal of those closest to him, the crew faces trials that will test them as never before.
The Fate of The Furious is directed by F. Gary Gray. His filmography consists of A Man Apart (2003), The Italian Job (2003), Law Abiding Citizen (2009), and Straight Outta Compton (2015). I really enjoyed The Italian Job (2003) and Straight Outta Compton (2015), I thought they were well made films, and after I remembered that he directed The Italian Job (2003), I was expecting the same fun car chases and action that was in that movie. I thought he did a great job capturing what makes the Fast and Furious franchise fun, loud and dumb; but in the best possible way. His directing wasn’t super flashy but he added in some flair in the style of slow motion shots, and jumping cars off of hills. I didn’t have any issues with the direction of this film really, it could have done some flashy moves to distinguish itself from the other films.
The Fate of The Furious was written by Chris Morgan. His writing filmography consists of Cellular (2004), The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006), Fast & Furious (2009), Fast Five (2011), Furious 6 (2013), and Furious Seven (2015). Chris Morgan is definitely a major part of this series, as he has written 5 out of 8 of these films. I think its getting to the point where if it wasn’t written by him or if he had a lesser role in the writing process, that this franchise wouldn’t be as fun. As I have stated before, you know what you’re getting into when you watch these films. They’re fun, they’re action packed, they defy all physics and logic, and they’re ridiculous and dumb, but they’re just pure entertainment. The writing is super dumb and has a lot of cheesy moments of bad dialogue, but that is part of the franchise.
The Fate of the Furious stars Vin Diesel as Dom, Jason Statham as Deckard, Dwayne Johnson as Hobbs, Michelle Rodriguez as Letty, Tyrese Gibson as Roman, Ludacris as Tej, Charlize Theron as Cipher, and Kurt Russell as Mr. Nobody. This section is going to be long, but I will try to make it shorter where I can.
Vin Diesel’s filmography consists of Saving Private Ryan (1998), The Iron Giant (1999), Pitch Black (2000), The Fast and the Furious (2001), xXx (2002), A Man Apart (2003), The Chronicles of Riddick (2004), The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006), Fast & Furious (2009), Fast Five (2011), Furious 6 (2013), Riddick (2013), Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Furious Seven (2015). Vin Diesel makes entertaining movies, thats all there is too it. They’re not oscar worthy roles, they’re not overly flashy, they’re not awful. I enjoy watching Diesel play Dominic Torretto in this franchise, you can see tell that he genuinely enjoys playing this role.
Jason Statham’s filmography consists of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), Snatch (2000), The Transporter (2002), The Italian Job (2003), Cellular (2004), Transporter 2 (2005), Crank (2006), Transporter 3 (2008), Death Race (2008), Crank 2 (2009), The Expendables (2010), The Expendables 2 (2012), Furious 6 (2013), The Expendables 3 (2014), and Furious Seven (2015). You know what to expect from a Jason Statham movie if you’ve ever seen him act, an action movie. I’ve liked his acting in pretty much every film that I have seen so far, and it was fun to see him in The Fate of the Furious, which is probably one of his best roles. He was funny and was a part of a stand out scene in the movie that I will not ruin here.
Dwayne Johnson’s filmography consists of The Mummy Returns (2001), The Rundown (2003), Walking Tall (2004), Doom (2005), Get Smart (2008), The Other Guys (2010), Fast Five (2011), Furious 6 (2013), Snitch (2013), Pain & Gain (2013), Furious Seven (2015), and Central Intelligence (2016). In my opinion, it was when The Rock came into the Fast and Furious franchise that these movies completely changed focus and were much better films. I consider Fast Five (2011) as one of the most fun action movies I have seen in the last couple of years. I also love The Rock, I love how he went from this insane world known wrestler to doing these ridiculous films, but is now getting better roles and is now one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood. Personally, I’ll watch anything with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in it, he’s just fun to to watch.
Michelle Rodriguez’s filmography consists of The Fast and Furious Franchise {Minus 2 Fast 2 Furious and Tokyo Drift} (2001-2017), Resident Evil (2002), S.W.A.T. (2003), and Lost {TV Series} (2005-2010). I really enjoyed Rodriguez in Lost {TV Series}, it was then that I realized that she actually could act, but I have always enjoyed her in The Fast And Furious films, especially in the later films.
Tyrese Gibson’s Filmography consists of The Fast And The Furious Franchise {Minus The Fast And Furious and Tokyo Drift} (2003-2017), Four Brothers (2005), Transformers (2007), Death Race (2008), Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen (2009), Legion (2010), Transformers: Dark Of The Moon (2011). I am not a Tyrese to be honest, I find his schtick with all his characters to be dull, repetitive and boring. I find that he plays the same character in every movie, he just gets louder and more obnoxious. He’s okay in this franchise, but he definitely gets on my nerves and gets easily overshadowed by the rest of cast.
Ludacris or Chris Bridges filmography consists of The Fast and Furious Franchise {Minus The Fast and Furious, Tokyo Drift and Fast & Furious), Crash (2004), RocknRolla (2008). I find it interesting too that Ludacris went from being a world known rap artist, to being an actor. He adds an interesting dynamic to the crew, and I enjoy his acting way more than I ever enjoyed his rap career.
Charlize Theron’s filmography consists of Reindeer Games (2000), The Italian Job (2003), The Road (2009), Prometheus (2012), Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), and Kubo and the Two Strings (2016). Theron is always a pleasure to watch on screen, she can play which ever role she wants, and does it with such style and grace. She makes it look easy. I thought she was a great addition to this film, she was down right mean but you still loved her at the same time because its Charlize Theron. After watching Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), and seeing her kick absolute ass in that movie, I find myself eagerly awaiting her next film role, and I absolutely cannot wait to see her in Atomic Blonde that comes out July 2017.
Kurt Russell’s filmography consists of Escape From New York (1981), The Thing (1982), Big Trouble In Little China (1986), Overboard (1987), Backdraft (1991), Stargate (1994), Death Proof (2007), Furious Seven (2015), The Hateful Eight (2015), and Deepwater Horizon (2016). I have always enjoyed Kurt Russells acting, my favourite role of his is still John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982), he was just fantastic in that film; and any other John Carpenter film. Its fun to see him in these movies though, as he adds some subtle comedy and extra fun to the franchise.
The acting is what you’d expect from the franchise, you have a group of actors that have been making these movies for many, many years that you can tell have fun making these movies and enjoy the company of each other. I’m sure it makes it easier to go to work everyday to act with your friends that you have developed a strong bond with over the last years, and I’m sure they all do it now with Paul Walker in their hearts.
The movie really shines however in its action scenes and set pieces. Because it was in the trailer I don’t feel guilty talking a bit about it, but the scene with all the driverless cars flying around the corners at high speeds was a fantastic scene. I find it really cool that with each movie you know what to expect fun wise, but they find these interesting set pieces to use in their films. Fast Five had the ending chase with the safe, Furious 6 had the plane, Furious Seven had the car jumping in Dubai and the tear-jerking tribute to Paul Walker and now The Fate of The Furious continues the trend with a Submarine and remotely controlling hundreds of cars. Its absolutely absurd, but its fun to watch.
This film isn’t perfect, but it sure is fun. If you’re a fan of the franchise or you just want to watch a dumb action flick, look no further than The Fate of The Furious.
I give The Fate Of The Furious a 3.5/5, I had fun with this one.
Until Next Time!
-Andrew