The Fate of the Furious (otherwise known as Fast 8, or the 8th one, for those of us who can't keep up with the rapidly changing movie titles) was a movie that I watched recently, and surprisingly I have a lot of things to say about it.
I have a lot of thoughts on this movie for interesting reasons. It's not because I didn't enjoy it- because I did- but I think I may have enjoyed it for the wrong reasons.
And before I get into the specifics, I just wanted to preface this with the fact that I did not intend to write a review of this movie when I first sat down. In fact, I was going to review another Disney movie. But after I saw this movie, I felt the need to express some opinions.
So let's get into it, shall we:
Category 1: Themes- C-
If you've never seen a Fast and Furious movie, there are a few things you should be aware of before you just launch into one.
Those things are 1. The movies revolve around fast cars, regardless of whether or not said cars make practical sense in the context of the movie, and 2. The movies perpetuate this theme of friends becoming family, and they do it almost relentlessly.
The Fate of the Furious was no different.
There's an ongoing joke that says there should be a drinking game where you take a shot every time Vin Diesel says "family" in F&F, but honestly, if you did that, you would die of alcohol poisoning.
Now, I have only ever seen Furious 7, or the last movie that was shot before the death of primary cast member Paul Walker. So when I saw that movie, I thought it was sweet that they mentioned family so many times, especially in order to pay homage to the actor who had recently passed.
I was not aware going into this movie that saying "family" was a common theme among all of the movies.
In fact, I rolled my eyes every time the word "family" was mentioned in The Fate of The Furious. That's because this movie tries to beat you over the head with a stick that has the word "family" written on it, in its attempts to convince you that it's promoting a theme instead of just being repetitive and hollow.
The reason why I was so annoyed with the "family" theme in this movie specifically was because the whole film seemed manufactured. The thing about Furious 7 was that the movie's "family" theme felt genuine because a cast member on the movie had just died and the remaining cast said they thought of him as their actual family. It gave the movie stakes that the viewer could feel even though Paul Walker's death wasn't even mentioned in the actual movie. The "family" theme seemed more genuine.
This time it felt... hollow.
One reason for that might have been that some members of the cast- who I'm not gonna name- (*cough* Vin Diesel *cough* Dwayne Johnson *cough, cough*) absolutely hated each other. There were multiple news outlets that said that these two people didn't want to be anywhere near each other on set, and they had to shoot scenes on different days just to avoid one another. Now, does that sound like family to you?
I mean, sure, we all have that annoying younger sibling or cousin that we want absolutely nothing to do with, but that's why we have movies like the F&F franchise- to remind us that family is important.
Diesel and Johnson tried to squash their feud before the movie came out in April, but it was still a little strange that it even happened in the first place. And the worst thing is, the feud translates into the movie. You can definitely feel the tension between them in the movie, just like Dwayne admits in his comments about shooting the film:
After they announced The Fate of the Furious it kind of stuck with me that this series really isn't about family at all. It's about making money.
Furious 7 acknowledged Paul Walker's death beautifully, but then the franchise inevitably decided that the show must go on, and that just because Paul Walker was dead it didn't mean that Vin Diesel didn't need a paycheck.
Now, I have only ever seen Furious 7, or the last movie that was shot before the death of primary cast member Paul Walker. So when I saw that movie, I thought it was sweet that they mentioned family so many times, especially in order to pay homage to the actor who had recently passed.
I was not aware going into this movie that saying "family" was a common theme among all of the movies.
In fact, I rolled my eyes every time the word "family" was mentioned in The Fate of The Furious. That's because this movie tries to beat you over the head with a stick that has the word "family" written on it, in its attempts to convince you that it's promoting a theme instead of just being repetitive and hollow.
The reason why I was so annoyed with the "family" theme in this movie specifically was because the whole film seemed manufactured. The thing about Furious 7 was that the movie's "family" theme felt genuine because a cast member on the movie had just died and the remaining cast said they thought of him as their actual family. It gave the movie stakes that the viewer could feel even though Paul Walker's death wasn't even mentioned in the actual movie. The "family" theme seemed more genuine.
This time it felt... hollow.
One reason for that might have been that some members of the cast- who I'm not gonna name- (*cough* Vin Diesel *cough* Dwayne Johnson *cough, cough*) absolutely hated each other. There were multiple news outlets that said that these two people didn't want to be anywhere near each other on set, and they had to shoot scenes on different days just to avoid one another. Now, does that sound like family to you?
I mean, sure, we all have that annoying younger sibling or cousin that we want absolutely nothing to do with, but that's why we have movies like the F&F franchise- to remind us that family is important.
Diesel and Johnson tried to squash their feud before the movie came out in April, but it was still a little strange that it even happened in the first place. And the worst thing is, the feud translates into the movie. You can definitely feel the tension between them in the movie, just like Dwayne admits in his comments about shooting the film:
[W]hen you watch this movie next April, and it seems like I’m not acting in some of these scenes and my blood is legit boiling — you’re right.
My female co-stars are always amazing, and I love ’em. My male co-stars however are a different story...Some conduct themselves as stand up men and true professionals, while others don’t. The ones that don’t are too chicken s–t to do anything about it anyway. Candy asses. - Dwayne Johnson, FacebookIt also struck me as strange that the series continued on even after a primary member of their "family" died tragically. And yes, they did write Paul Walker a nice goodbye and a sweet send-off from the official Fast franchise in Furious 7, but soon after its success they announced a new F&F movie was being made.
After they announced The Fate of the Furious it kind of stuck with me that this series really isn't about family at all. It's about making money.
Furious 7 acknowledged Paul Walker's death beautifully, but then the franchise inevitably decided that the show must go on, and that just because Paul Walker was dead it didn't mean that Vin Diesel didn't need a paycheck.
I don't know. It just felt odd and a little disrespectful to me that they continued the series after the death of one of its most prominent characters.
But hey, the "fast cars" theme was still in The Fate of the Furious... That's cool, right?
Category 2: Plot- D
But hey, the "fast cars" theme was still in The Fate of the Furious... That's cool, right?
Category 2: Plot- D
I thought the plot of this movie was a little corny from the start- I'm not gonna lie. It looked like a good concept in the trailer, but in practice it was really campy and a little overly dramatic for my liking. I think this has more to do with the forced plot point of "family" being the most important thing to the main character Dominic (played by Vin Diesel) than anything.
Overall, the plot wasn't bad... But it also wasn't good.
Basically Dominic double crossed his "family," in order to obtain some deadly weapons for this hacker woman (played by Charlize Theron) who wants to blow up the world.
And the catch is, (SPOILER) Charlize Theron is holding Dominic's old girlfriend, and the baby that she and Dominic had together, hostage until Dominic does what she wants.
This reveal is supposed to be super dramatic and important to the movie because it helps to develop stakes, but I honestly didn't care about this girlfriend woman because I didn't know who the hell she was. I mentioned before that I had only ever seen Furious 7, and that's probably why I didn't recognize Dom's old girlfriend, but I feel like that's a flaw in the movie. I think the whole film relies too heavily on the viewer being aware of the previous movies. Which, I suppose is fair- Who just starts watching a movie series at movie number eight?- but at the same time, this movie hinges on information established in previous movies instead of just developing a new plot, which is a problem.
In Furious 7- which I know I'm referencing a lot, I'm sorry- you didn't have to have any information about what happened in previous movies, the movie made sense on its own. But The Fate of the Furious references old characters from previous movies as plot points and depends on a fan base that is already familiar with these people in order to drive the central story.
And honestly, even if I was familiar with Dom's old girlfriend from previous movies, I would still think it's an annoying plot devise. It's just lazy fan service, and personally I don't like it when movies do stuff like that.
Category 3: Characters- B+
Overall, the plot wasn't bad... But it also wasn't good.
Basically Dominic double crossed his "family," in order to obtain some deadly weapons for this hacker woman (played by Charlize Theron) who wants to blow up the world.
And the catch is, (SPOILER) Charlize Theron is holding Dominic's old girlfriend, and the baby that she and Dominic had together, hostage until Dominic does what she wants.
This reveal is supposed to be super dramatic and important to the movie because it helps to develop stakes, but I honestly didn't care about this girlfriend woman because I didn't know who the hell she was. I mentioned before that I had only ever seen Furious 7, and that's probably why I didn't recognize Dom's old girlfriend, but I feel like that's a flaw in the movie. I think the whole film relies too heavily on the viewer being aware of the previous movies. Which, I suppose is fair- Who just starts watching a movie series at movie number eight?- but at the same time, this movie hinges on information established in previous movies instead of just developing a new plot, which is a problem.
In Furious 7- which I know I'm referencing a lot, I'm sorry- you didn't have to have any information about what happened in previous movies, the movie made sense on its own. But The Fate of the Furious references old characters from previous movies as plot points and depends on a fan base that is already familiar with these people in order to drive the central story.
And honestly, even if I was familiar with Dom's old girlfriend from previous movies, I would still think it's an annoying plot devise. It's just lazy fan service, and personally I don't like it when movies do stuff like that.
Category 3: Characters- B+
All of the characters from the previous movies are back for The Fate of the Furious, and overall, they were pretty much as funny and lighthearted as they always have been. Of course Vin Diesel was back for the 8th installment- he's the face of the damn series. Ludacris and the girl from Game of Thrones are back again to play the two black nerds of the team. Dwanye Johnson was there to make everyone else look inferior, and Michelle Rodriguez was bad-ass, as always. But Tyrese Gibson's character, Roman, was obviously my favorite. That was mostly because he was probably the only realistic one in the group, and he was very, very funny. And then, to my surprise, they added Jason Statham's character to the team, despite him being the villain of the last movie.
To be honest with you, I like the characters, and my favorite parts of the movie are more-so character based than plot based.
For example, if The Fate of the Furious had just scrapped the rest of the team and just made an action/romance/comedy between Dwanye Johnson and Jason Statham, I would have paid all of my money to see it. I loved the entire build-up of the bromance that the two of them had in the film. Like, they were both constantly threatening to kick the shit out of one another, but you could tell that they secretly wanted to make-out. And I'm not normally someone who ships couples like that, but I was sitting there watching the movie like, "Now kiss!"
This was only reinforced when (SPOILER) Johnson's character thinks that Statham's character is dead and he got really upset. Of course Statham's character wasn't actually dead, but it was a cute moment in the movie that made me go, "Aww, don't be sad about your boyfriend, man..."
Another thing that I definitely wanted more of was the scene at the end of the movie where Statham was shooting people and fighting them to the death, while holding Dom's baby. It was the BEST part of the film, hands down, and I wanted more of it in my life. It was so cute I could have died. I love Jason Statham and that baby because of that adorable little scene near the end of the movie.
The only people I didn't exactly care for in this movie were Scott Eastwood's character and Charlize Theron's character.
Personally I thought that Scott Eastwood's character was super annoying and unnecessary. The other main characters in the movie didn't even like him, and they constantly made fun of him in the film, which is not a great way to introduce a character that the audience is supposed to like.
The YouTube channel "Game Grumps" came up with a solution to this problem in proposing that instead of Scott Eastwood's character, the F&F franchise should have picked up the character Baby from Baby Driver. Honestly I think that would have been a major improvement overall.
If you're interested- check out their podcast about Baby Driver on YouTube where they mention it: The G Club: Baby Driver in F&F.
(*Cough, cough* While you're at it, why don't you go and check out my thoughts on Baby Driver on the blog post I made last month?)
Charlize Theron's character had a bad habit of going on long tangents about "choices" and how they were important or whatever, but I can't tell you how many times I was like, "Dom, shoot her! Just kill her already! She's monologuing for crying out loud!" (And yes, I know that if Dom had killed her, she would have had his son killed, but it didn't mean I wanted her to die any less).
Also her character motivations were stupid, and as if that wasn't enough to make you dislike her- just look at the hairstyle she had for the entire fucking movie:
She had this weird attempt at dreads that didn't make any sense at all. I was a little like, "WTF" every time she was on screen.
Category 4: Scripting- C-
To be honest with you, I like the characters, and my favorite parts of the movie are more-so character based than plot based.
For example, if The Fate of the Furious had just scrapped the rest of the team and just made an action/romance/comedy between Dwanye Johnson and Jason Statham, I would have paid all of my money to see it. I loved the entire build-up of the bromance that the two of them had in the film. Like, they were both constantly threatening to kick the shit out of one another, but you could tell that they secretly wanted to make-out. And I'm not normally someone who ships couples like that, but I was sitting there watching the movie like, "Now kiss!"
This was only reinforced when (SPOILER) Johnson's character thinks that Statham's character is dead and he got really upset. Of course Statham's character wasn't actually dead, but it was a cute moment in the movie that made me go, "Aww, don't be sad about your boyfriend, man..."
Another thing that I definitely wanted more of was the scene at the end of the movie where Statham was shooting people and fighting them to the death, while holding Dom's baby. It was the BEST part of the film, hands down, and I wanted more of it in my life. It was so cute I could have died. I love Jason Statham and that baby because of that adorable little scene near the end of the movie.
The only people I didn't exactly care for in this movie were Scott Eastwood's character and Charlize Theron's character.
Personally I thought that Scott Eastwood's character was super annoying and unnecessary. The other main characters in the movie didn't even like him, and they constantly made fun of him in the film, which is not a great way to introduce a character that the audience is supposed to like.
The YouTube channel "Game Grumps" came up with a solution to this problem in proposing that instead of Scott Eastwood's character, the F&F franchise should have picked up the character Baby from Baby Driver. Honestly I think that would have been a major improvement overall.
If you're interested- check out their podcast about Baby Driver on YouTube where they mention it: The G Club: Baby Driver in F&F.
(*Cough, cough* While you're at it, why don't you go and check out my thoughts on Baby Driver on the blog post I made last month?)
Charlize Theron's character had a bad habit of going on long tangents about "choices" and how they were important or whatever, but I can't tell you how many times I was like, "Dom, shoot her! Just kill her already! She's monologuing for crying out loud!" (And yes, I know that if Dom had killed her, she would have had his son killed, but it didn't mean I wanted her to die any less).
Also her character motivations were stupid, and as if that wasn't enough to make you dislike her- just look at the hairstyle she had for the entire fucking movie:
Category 4: Scripting- C-
In this category, I'm going to define scripting as the ability of The Fate of the Furious to demonstrate a coherent script that displays characters in a way that doesn't effect my suspension of disbelief.
Let me just say that straight off the bat my suspension of disbelief was ruined.
In the first five minutes of the movie there was a car race, because of course there was, and after the person who was not a main character lost, they graciously admitted defeat. To me, this entire scene felt empty and scripted, and it screamed to me that nothing about this movie was real. None of it felt like anything other than a poorly written excuse to drive a fast car and blow up some stuff.
There were several scenes like this, that felt forced and scripted. A lot of the comedy in this movie didn't exactly land, and some of the monologue scenes felt drawn out and unrealistic.
It honestly got to the point where I could predict what the characters were gonna say before they said it, and if you're a screenwriter, that shouldn't be something to aim for.
To put if briefly, the scripting in this movie was a stereotypical example of what characters are like in action movies.
Category 5: Action- B
Let me just say that straight off the bat my suspension of disbelief was ruined.
In the first five minutes of the movie there was a car race, because of course there was, and after the person who was not a main character lost, they graciously admitted defeat. To me, this entire scene felt empty and scripted, and it screamed to me that nothing about this movie was real. None of it felt like anything other than a poorly written excuse to drive a fast car and blow up some stuff.
There were several scenes like this, that felt forced and scripted. A lot of the comedy in this movie didn't exactly land, and some of the monologue scenes felt drawn out and unrealistic.
It honestly got to the point where I could predict what the characters were gonna say before they said it, and if you're a screenwriter, that shouldn't be something to aim for.
To put if briefly, the scripting in this movie was a stereotypical example of what characters are like in action movies.
Category 5: Action- B
I liked the action in this movie. I thought it was fun. I had really no problems with it, other than the fact that the action scenes with Dwanye Johnson were a little over-the-top and heavily produced. I mean, I could get behind the prison fight (mostly), but when he got out of his car to steer a fucking missile into another highly armed military vehicle, I was like, "Come on, really?" (That goes back to ruining my suspension of disbelief.) Everything was too over the top.
Something else that I should mention is that a lot of people died in this film.
And I know that comes with the territory of action movies and I know that a lot of people usually die. HOWEVER- AND THIS IS A BIG HOWEVER- usually most action movies show hoards of bad guys dying.
In The Fate of the Furious thousands of innocent people potentially get hurt or killed; except it's all off camera, so no one has to think about the consequences of blowing up cars or buildings. It bothers the shit out of me when people like civilians or government workers get killed in movies like this just because, "Hey- it's an action movie, why not?"
SPOILERS AHEAD
This especially occurred to me in the large car scene where Charlize Theron's character sent a hoard of electric and automatic cars hurdling down the street- regardless of whether or not they had people inside of them. Now, I actually really liked this scene because A) It was horrifying; it depicted an inevitable future where all cars could be hacked, and B) It was just flat out cool looking.
But I also realized while watching this movie that a lot of those extras that were in their smart cars probably ended up crashing into buildings and dying tragically. Which put a damper on the scene and made me a little upset at this movie for not acknowledging the chaos.
Another scene that is like that is at the end, where the team, or- excuse me- "family" is attempting to escape a bunch of Russian government workers who are just doing their job. The "family" stole something from a Russian submarine (in order to save the world from Charlie Theron's character), and so the Russians were chasing them down just to get their shit back.
How does the "family" respond?
By redirecting missiles at them, like I said before.
This was a little annoying to me because it wasn't like the Russians were wrong for wanting their shit back. And them chasing the "family" down and shooting at them for stealing something was not exactly grounds to blow all of them up. But it happened anyway, because action movie.
Long story short, it really bothers me when a movie shows a lot of cars and buildings just exploding in insane action sequences, without referencing the fact that millions of people probably died. (That's one of the many reasons why I think Man of Steel is a shitty movie.)
Category 6: Shameless money grabbing ploy- B+
Something else that I should mention is that a lot of people died in this film.
And I know that comes with the territory of action movies and I know that a lot of people usually die. HOWEVER- AND THIS IS A BIG HOWEVER- usually most action movies show hoards of bad guys dying.
In The Fate of the Furious thousands of innocent people potentially get hurt or killed; except it's all off camera, so no one has to think about the consequences of blowing up cars or buildings. It bothers the shit out of me when people like civilians or government workers get killed in movies like this just because, "Hey- it's an action movie, why not?"
SPOILERS AHEAD
This especially occurred to me in the large car scene where Charlize Theron's character sent a hoard of electric and automatic cars hurdling down the street- regardless of whether or not they had people inside of them. Now, I actually really liked this scene because A) It was horrifying; it depicted an inevitable future where all cars could be hacked, and B) It was just flat out cool looking.
But I also realized while watching this movie that a lot of those extras that were in their smart cars probably ended up crashing into buildings and dying tragically. Which put a damper on the scene and made me a little upset at this movie for not acknowledging the chaos.
Another scene that is like that is at the end, where the team, or- excuse me- "family" is attempting to escape a bunch of Russian government workers who are just doing their job. The "family" stole something from a Russian submarine (in order to save the world from Charlie Theron's character), and so the Russians were chasing them down just to get their shit back.
How does the "family" respond?
By redirecting missiles at them, like I said before.
This was a little annoying to me because it wasn't like the Russians were wrong for wanting their shit back. And them chasing the "family" down and shooting at them for stealing something was not exactly grounds to blow all of them up. But it happened anyway, because action movie.
Long story short, it really bothers me when a movie shows a lot of cars and buildings just exploding in insane action sequences, without referencing the fact that millions of people probably died. (That's one of the many reasons why I think Man of Steel is a shitty movie.)
Category 6: Shameless money grabbing ploy- B+
These movies are cash cows.
I am not exaggerating.
The Fate of the Furious has amassed over 1.2 billion dollars since its release in April, and according to Wikipedia, this movie had the biggest worldwide film opening since 2002. Furious 7 currently holds the title as the sixth highest worldwide film opening since 2002, and it has made about 1.5 billion dollars since its release in 2015.
So I think I was right before in my claim that these movies are not about "family" at all, but rather, presenting the illusion of family as a ploy to make billions.
As of right now, seeing how lucrative the franchise is, I'm not surprised that they've announced another movie coming out from the F&F crew in two years.
In fact, there are even two more movies in the works, to round the series out at ten films. But then again, that's only for right now. I am willing to bet that if those movies do as well as the previous ones, they may continue to make F&F movies until the day Vin Diesel kicks the bucket.
Overall, what did I think about The Fate of the Furious?
I thought it was okay.
I thought this movie was very funny for a lot of reasons that probably shouldn't have been funny. For example, this movie tried to take itself seriously, while still remaining what it was- an action comedy. It tried really hard to get me to care about the drama aspect that was thrown into the middle of the movie, but I just wasn't buying it. That, along with the over-the-top action sequences and scripted dialogue made the movie feel really campy and almost ironic when I watched it.
To sum it up, I liked the movie, but as far as grades go, I'll give it an E for "Eh, I ironically enjoyed it."
I am not exaggerating.
The Fate of the Furious has amassed over 1.2 billion dollars since its release in April, and according to Wikipedia, this movie had the biggest worldwide film opening since 2002. Furious 7 currently holds the title as the sixth highest worldwide film opening since 2002, and it has made about 1.5 billion dollars since its release in 2015.
So I think I was right before in my claim that these movies are not about "family" at all, but rather, presenting the illusion of family as a ploy to make billions.
As of right now, seeing how lucrative the franchise is, I'm not surprised that they've announced another movie coming out from the F&F crew in two years.
In fact, there are even two more movies in the works, to round the series out at ten films. But then again, that's only for right now. I am willing to bet that if those movies do as well as the previous ones, they may continue to make F&F movies until the day Vin Diesel kicks the bucket.
Overall, what did I think about The Fate of the Furious?
I thought it was okay.
I thought this movie was very funny for a lot of reasons that probably shouldn't have been funny. For example, this movie tried to take itself seriously, while still remaining what it was- an action comedy. It tried really hard to get me to care about the drama aspect that was thrown into the middle of the movie, but I just wasn't buying it. That, along with the over-the-top action sequences and scripted dialogue made the movie feel really campy and almost ironic when I watched it.
To sum it up, I liked the movie, but as far as grades go, I'll give it an E for "Eh, I ironically enjoyed it."