Okay, time to once again address a certain… pattern I’ve
been noticing with my last few reviews. Since the GG meltdown, and I swear that
this wasn’t intentional, the last three films I’ve covered on here have all
involved some form of feminism. Whether it’s the showing of strength in Begum Jaan and Smurfs: The Lost Village, or the misogynistic bullshit of CHiPs, it
seems that I subconsciously made a bit of a theme. Time to change that up, with
a look at the latest instalment of the most macho film series running today:
The Fast & The Furious.
Now, there are very few film franchises nowadays
that I would consider myself be an out-and-out fanboy for; the MCU is the
closest I’ve gotten so far, and even then it’s more surface level. Fast &
Furious, on the other hand? Since Fast Five, I’ve been strangely vibing with this
series; I say strangely because, as I’ve mentioned before, I’m really not into
car-centric action beats. And yet, between the unabashed and self-aware
silliness of the action, the solid character interaction and even a few
instances of legit emotional impact, this is a series that I have a lot of
respect for. Keep that fanboy bias in mind as we get into the latest instalment
of the franchise that restraint forgot. This is The Fate Of The Furious.
The plot: Cyberterrorist Cipher (Charlize Theron) is the
latest in a line of criminals set to dominate the world if left unchallenged.
However, this time, it seems that Toretto Gang leader Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel)
is on her side. While trying to figure out why Dom would turn on his family
like this, the Toretto Gang are once again tasked by government spook Mr. Nobody
(Kurt Russell) to save the world. Only this time, they're forced to work together with Deckard (Jason Statham), who nearly tore the family apart himself not too long ago.
It’s almost pointless to do my usual cast rundown with films
like this because, quite frankly, I’m running the risk of repeating myself: The
actors that make up the Toretto Gang are all solid, fill in their niches quite
well and their chemistry with each other is as good as ever. However, there are
definitely some true highlights here that are worth bringing up. For example,
holy hell, Vin Diesel is great in this thing. Knowing how ingrained Dom’s
character is into Diesel’s public perception, the shake-up he gets here could
have turned out quite badly if it weren’t for the fact that he sells every
single moment of it. What’s more, he manages to do it without full-on betraying
the character that he’s cultivated over the past 16 years.
Nathalie Emmanuel,
the newest member of the team, fits in remarkably well with the main cast like
she’s just always been there. Jason Statham, returning from F&F 7 but as a good guy, will always be welcome around
here but, again, his banter with the cast is very smooth considering how much
he screwed them over last time. I swear, I would watch an entire film of just
Statham and Dwayne Johnson insulting each other; they’re that good at trading verbal blows.
Helen Mirren makes a cameo here,
sporting the kind of hokey British accent that might make you forget that she
actually is British, and Charlize
Theron… wow. Considering what happened last time we saw Theron and Diesel together in an action film, I am genuinely shocked at how good her performance
is here. The very cold and calculating air she gives the character is
incredible, leading to some moments where she outshines pretty much every other
bad guy this series has had so far in how chilling she gets. Bear in mind that
she’s sharing space with Jason bloody Statham, the previous antagonist, that is
quite an accomplishment.
When it comes to action franchises, especially those that
have run for as long as this series has, there is always that underlying fear
that, before too long, the series will lose its steam and start to fall behind
itself. Kind of a natural feeling, given how this is a series built on being
increasingly ludicrous with each new installment. I’m not entirely sure how
they managed it but, once again, this film upped the ante in terms of action spectacle.
The main set pieces of the film, like the prison riot and the submarine attack
and the flood of cars, are front and center in the marketing but, somehow, they
are even more ridiculous when seen in full.
What’s more, these might be some of
the best action beats in the series so far. While the camera work can get a
little too chaotic in some scenes, making the finer details difficult to make
out, the sense of gradual escalation and full-blown ballsiness of the
production wins out because not only are these scenes genuinely impressive in
how tightly compacted they are with macho-grandiosity, they are also incredibly
funny due to how immense and bordering-on-parody they are. Of course, I’ve
never taken much stock in the self-parody claims made towards this series
since, with how ambitious and grand these moments are, I doubt that just anyone
would be able to come close to copying this with any amount of success. Not
every studio is willing to fork out the budget for a car crash scene that would
make the Blues Brothers weep with envy.
We’re dealing with the eighth film in the series and, along
with going further in terms of visuals, it seems that the writing is along for
the ride as well. It’s mostly what we’ve come to expect from these films, with
lots of banter between the characters and a general irreverence to the nonsense
going on around them. However, with that said, the undercurrent themes of
family and brotherhood that have been with this series from the beginning reach
a new plateau here. When the trailers hit, and we saw the well-established
family man Dom Toretto turning on his team, I was definitely hesitant since
this sort of heel-turn would require a damn good reason behind it.
And sure
enough, not only do we get that reason but it is woven into the fabric of the
narrative itself. The idea of family, especially the relationship between
parents and their children, plays a heavy role in a lot of the bigger plot
turns, resulting in a film that is strangely sentimental when it comes to the
kids. Starting out with an embarrassingly cute scene of Hobbs doing a haka with
his daughter’s soccer team, the emphasis on children and what adults are
willing to go through for their children gives a surprising amount of emotional
impact to the proceedings. Hell, even considering the pathos that oozed out of
the seventh film, this might outdo because not only does this genuinely feel
mapped out and carried through to a satisfying destination, but Brian
O’Connor’s in-universe fate plays into it as well.
However, more so than the emotional impact, it’s the way
that this film ties the previous films together into a singular narrative that
actually impresses me. It does end up going down rather cheesy and slightly
troubling roads, particularly when it comes to Deckard’s place as a reluctant
member of the crew, but the definite effort put into tying together all of the
actions of the villains together, combined with bits of character backstory
sprinkled in throughout, shows that Chris Morgan is probably one of the better
franchise writers out there. In fact, with the way this puts work into
threading together the last couple films’ worth of villain motivation, this
reminds me a lot of what Sam Mendes attempted with Spectre.
Except here, it
actually works out. Partly, this is because the pieces amount to a lot more
than just convenient retcons to make them connect, but also because the
character behind it this time around, Cipher, is the kind of antagonist that
you can see being the puppet master. Add to this how even some of the bigger
plot points are brought back, like the omniscient computer program God’s Eye,
and you have a film that feels like a natural continuation of the overall
story. Hell, even outside of specific plot moments that most audiences won’t
even care about beyond their connection to the glorious action scenes, this
film even comments on the staples of the series in a rather poignant way. It
bookends on depictions of the male gaze, glorifying it in the opening scene and
credits sequence and then commenting on its shallowness at the end with a
surprisingly powerful line delivered by Ramsey. When it comes to franchises
that are this deep in when it comes to sheer numbers, that is a rather impressive
feat that even some of the more lauded series couldn’t manage.
All in all, aside from being an incredibly fun action flick
with great set pieces and even some decent pathos, this film needs recognition
because of what it represents. It’s the eighth film in a love-it-or-hate-it
franchise that is not only managing to one-up its predecessors but even dares
to tweak the formula for the better, keeping up with what the series so fun
while also building towards new territory. Seeing a series this far in and
still managing to be this bombastic, entertaining and inventive is quite remarkable.
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