The longevity and success of the Fast and Furious franchise tell you one thing, the studio and filmmakers certainly know their audience so why mess with something that works so darn well, Fast and Furious 8 with all its glorious flaws, cheese and complete insanity is ludicrously blistering entertainment.
Faces have come and sadly gone from this series of films but at its very heart is the family loyalty that holds them together like glue, through thick and thin, highs and lows and spectacular crashes with a sense of high voltage speed that always see them bounce back into each other’s arms and Fast 8 is the most ridiculous of them all but you can’t help but love it.
As we already know Dom (Vin Diesel) goes rogue, lured over to the dark side by Cipher played by Charlize Theron turning his back on the family he has always held dear. The crew are reassembled with Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) at the helm with only his wife Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez) confused at why Dom has chosen to desert and betray them. The rest including Roman (Tyrese Gibson), Tej (Ludacris) and Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel) are more worried about the task at hand, how do they find and stop Dom from causing a nuclear war – This job isn’t going to be easy, but with the help of old enemies (you’re in for a laughable surprise) but they are sure going to have a whole host of fun with the expensive, flash cars at their disposal which once used to belong to drug dealers.
Starting off in true Fast and Furious style with the token car race through the city of Havana with scantily clad females wearing almost nothing with their pert little bottoms emblazoned across the screen. Unfolding hints of the plot are tied in with past outings, linking each story with clunky effect. It loses its momentum smack bang in the middle, plodding along with a plot that is formulaic, the god awful one-liners which still manage to raise a titter dry up and you could be forgiven for taking a 20-minute nap before the action really starts to get going again.
Director F, Gary Gary (Straight Outta Compton) has taken his creativity to a new level with excruciatingly impressive action and breathtaking stunts with under control cars through the streets of New York, and a submarine cutting through the ice of another location are nothing but incredibly spectacular, no expense, as per usual, has been spared and we are grateful it isn’t.
Gary Gary has also brought in some fresh blood with old faces we know and love in the form of Kurt Russell – who just appears to be making a heroic comeback on screen this year – and Helen Mirren with a dodgy cockney accent who joins to play the mother of Jason Statham. The other dubious addition comes in the form of Scott Eastwood, with similar features to the late Paul Walker we can’t help but wonder if he has been brought in to replace the black hole Walker left.
There is one standout sequence that gets an honourable mention and surprisingly its lead by Jason Statham and his comedy partner – a baby. Yes, you read that correctly, if there is anything to come out of this it’s the fact that Statham needs to take his brutal brawn and make some kind of token kids film.
With Fast and Furious 8 it does what it says on the tin, you always know what you’re getting and for this franchise there is nothing wrong with that, it’s pure ludicrously insane entertainment, as long as it’s still racking in the cash at the box office there simply is no end to the future of this franchise.
Fast and Furious 8 crashes into cinemas April 14
