Film Review: "The Fate of the Furious" (2017).

"Family will be broken" in The Fate of the Furious. This action film directed by F. Gary Gray and written by Chris Morgan. It is the sequel to 2015's Furious 7, and the eighth installment in The Fast and the Furious franchise. Dom encounters a mysterious woman, Cipher, who gets him involved in the world of terrorism. The crew has to reunite to stop Cipher and save the man who brought them together as a family.

In March 2015, plans for an eighth installment were first announced when Vin Diesel appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. Preparations for the film began immediately after the release of Furious 7, with Diesel, Morgan and producer Neal H. Moritz returning to star, write and produce. At the 2015 CinemaCon in Las Vegas, Diesel announced the film for an April 14, 2017 release date. In July 2015, Moritz said that Walker's character, Brian O'Conner, would not appear in the film, following Walker's untimely death on November 30, 2013. In addition, Moritz said that the film would shift the focus of the franchise from a series of heist films to a spy caper, following a similar change in focus in Fast Five (2011). In September 2015, Diesel stated that the script had almost been completed, and expressed interest in Rob Cohen, who directed the first film, to direct the eighth installment. In mid October, Diesel announced on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon that Gray would direct. Other directors considered were Louis Leterrier, William Eubank, and Adam Wingard. By mid March 2016, Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Nathalie Emmanuel, Elsa Pataky, Kurt Russell returned to reprise their roles, with Charlize Theron, Kristofer Hivju, Scott Eastwood, and Helen Mirren as new additions. At the same time, principal photography commenced, under the initial title Fast 8, and took place in Mývatn, Havana, Atlanta, Cleveland and New York City. In December 2016, the film was retitled The Fate of the Furious.

The film stars Diesel, Johnson, Rodriguez, Gibson, Bridges, Emmanuel, Pataky, Russell, Statham, Eastwood, Theron, Hivju, and Mirren. Despite their best efforts and their likability, the performances given by the cast, and the cast themselves, are nothing but cliched and tiresome.

Despite the high-octane humor and terrific action scenes, The Fate of the Furious fails to further build upon the winning blockbuster formula that made Fast 5 and Furious 7 critical and commercial successes. Offering more of the high-octane action that the series is famous for, the film is easily the most ridiculous blockbuster of 2017 thus far; and also one of the least watchable. How you feel about the film and the franchise is a matter of perspective. But at this point, the franchise exists purely to showcase how idiotically over-the-top action sequences can become when annoyances like gravity are tossed to the side. Some of the action sequences are insane. No, really. Absurd, impossible, physics defying, triage-required stuff. No matter. That's the foolish rush of a franchise that must go faster and faster and furiouser and furiouser.

Simon says The Fate of the Furious receives:

Also, see my review for Straight Outta Compton and Furious 7.