Friday, April 14, 2017

"Fate of the Furious" (8 Fast 8 Furious) review



Feud brewing in the family.


The Fast and Furious Family returns to take down a megalomaniacal Charlize Theron, whose force of black hat resources set out to upend the political status quo of the world.

Her secret weapon to pulling all of this off is the family’s own head, Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), forced to work for her agenda and against his family after coercing her into compliance with a haunting new revelation.

As always, the synopsis may seem convoluted but behind the veils of soap opera drama, big reveals, and reverse double crosses for a series that almost seems to put more effort into its writing over time for reasons that boggle the mind, “Fate of the Furious” is all about creative action set pieces choreographed with fast and stylish cars that are practically characters themselves.

In that regard, the film easily delivers a blast and a half of an experience that was so briskly paced that by the time the Third Act climax kicked into gear, I was more floored by my watch telling me that I had already been in my seat for an hour and a half than by the brilliantly conceived of chase and battle between 4 cars, only one of which is fully weaponized, and a nuclear submarine.

I’ve been an unapologetic fan of the “Fast and Furious” franchise for quite some time now and the turning point for the better of that appreciation all stems from the moment this series decided to extend its lifespan by fully embracing its own unintentional brilliance as an ironic joke that sincerely rolls with the ludicrous momentum of its own escalation.

For almost 8 years now, this series has basically embraced a more comic bookish atmosphere, welcoming the camp and generally playing well by its own rules while keeping enough mildly enticing character appeal alive through melodrama carried by passable actors whose true strength is that they actually share the chemistry and rapport with one another that they desperately want the audience to find endearing about this “family.”

Their charm, the series’ sensory stylings, and a regularly stupendous eye for choreography and tension with cars, whether for chases or street races, have helped this franchise evolve from what it started out as and continue to serve it well with regard to “Fate of the Furious,” making it easily worth a matinee if, like me, you understand what you’re going into at this point and appreciate the method to the madness at play under the hood.

All of this is despite the film admittedly needing to dial back on its wake of destruction, this time taking the form of a city full of computerized and hacked “zombie” cars that do little but add overkill to a scene that could have just been a prolonged chase scene with demolition derby aspects thrown into the mix.

Unfortunately, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that the movie comes with a fair amount of baggage that not only holds it back from more acclaim but makes me fear for the future of the series when it still has at least 2 more films to go before it reaches a firm resting point.

One major aspect of that baggage unfortunately lies at the heels of its primary antagonist. Charlize Theron is an undisputedly talented actress but her presence is sadly wasted, as villainous super hacker Cipher in what may be the single most out of place element to pop up thus far in a film saga that has somehow managed to evolve from street racing and cop drama to international espionage that’s still a better time than any of the “Mission Impossible” flicks.

The spy oriented stuff began to rear its head in full with “Furious 7” as a means to an end for its own action sequences and made little sense their either but at least had the benefit of being minimalized with a laughable exposition dump delivered by a hypnotically charismatic Kurt Russell who stepped into his role within the ensemble with relative ease.

This was additionally helped by said subplot essentially serving as an obstacle to the film’s real endgame, Jason Statham as Deckard Shaw, a man seeking revenge on the heroes for the harm inflicted upon his brother, “Fast and Furious 6” villain Owen Shaw, a mercenary only out for the best payday opportunity, following a series of villains ranging from street cred slinging bullies to organized crime big wigs. They may not be particularly complex but they’re at least all immediately understandable.

Not only does Theron’s cartoonish faux philosophical droning about the illusion of free will and the abstract nature of emotional attachment and plans of inducing nuclear genocide as a means of “holding political leaders accountable” become so embarrassing even by this franchise’s own exaggerated standards it would be more at home on a Saturday morning cartoon, it slowly brings to the forefront aspects of the films premise that were not meant for prolonged exposure.

Maybe the extremes of this character’s one note nature would be mitigated by the mere opportunity to ride alongside the Furious Family once more but that’s where “Fate of the Furious” instills more than a little bit of fear for the future.

Building the bulk of the series’ dramatic arc and humanity around the character of Brian has left an unfortunate hole in its core dynamic that the film admirably makes a desperate attempt to work through but never quite manages to recreate the magic in full.

The late Paul Walker’s role in the movie may have seemed basic but he carried it out well and proves how much of a team effort holding all of this together really is. Without him, the series is forced to pivot on Vin Diesel to carry even more of the film’s heart and while it manages to cross the finish line, the end results are more than a little lacking.

Without him, Tyrese Gibson lacks a true charismatic equal, throwing off the casts glowing sense of chemistry and his open slot on the team unfortunately results in several ham-fisted attempts to put Statham through a redemption arc, along with introducing Scott Eastwood to the cast who is saved from being forgotten as quickly as “Tokyo Drift’s” Lucas Black by being a substantially better yet nonetheless underwhelming actor.

I still have nothing but love for this franchise. Modern film series’ reaching and 8th installment is borderline unheard of but the notion that “Fast and Furious” is somehow projected to hit 10 films with over 50% of its development being a regularly steady climb in quality is almost unprecedented. “Fate of the Furious” offers everything you could possible ask for out of a blockbuster experience.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite go above and beyond the call of duty in the manner that it has begun to become famous for and with 2 more films to go, I’m left wondering if they can keep momentum going just long enough for a graceful bow out or completely fall apart at the finish line like the Bluesmobile.


5 Familial Proclamations out of 10

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