I remember seeing the preview for "The Fast and The Furious" back in 2001 and thinking "That movie is gonna bomb! Who wants to watch a movie about street car racing?" Little did I know that a movie studio's idea of re-imaging the cult classic, "Point Break", with street cars instead of surf boards would turn into a box office hit and make Paul Walker and Vin Diesel household names. Diesel and director Rob Cohen abandoned the sequel, "2 Fast 2 Furious" with Walker starring and John Singleton directing. It couldn't match the success of the original and most thought the franchise was over. Then up-and-coming director, Justin Lin, attempted to breathe life back into franchise with a whole new cast on a new continent with "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift". Although the film bombed at the box office, Vin Diesel saw potential and inked a deal with Paramount to get the original cast back together with Lin directing and shifted from just a street racing movie to more of a straight-up action flick. 2009's "Fast & Furious" was the revival no one saw coming and jump started the franchise...uh, so to speak. Each sequel after ("Fast Five", "Fast & Furious 6", and "Furious 7") got bigger, bolder, and, at times, to more ridiculous than furious. But each one dominated the box office and turned out to be quite entertaining popcorn flicks. After the tearful farewell to Paul Walker (who died tragically during a break in filming) at the end of 7, I wasn't quite sure how the franchise would move on. The bond and chemistry of Walker and Diesel were the key components of the previous movies' success. And I have to say, "The Fate of the Furious" suffers from Paul's absence. The movie is still full of action, and even more street racing and car chases than the last few movies. But that's no surprise with new-to-the-franchise director F. Gary Gray who took movie car chases to a new level in "The Italian Job". But even with those cool car chases, The Rock going toe-to-toe (again) with Jason Statham, and new villain Charlize Theron, "The Fate of the Furious" feels like it's running out of gas. If you are looking for a solid story line, this isn't for you. But if you just want some ludicrous action (pardon my pun), some amusing wise-cracks from Tyrese Gibson, and a hint of high-tech hi-jinks to save the world from a ruthless hacker then 8 just might be in your fate, Side Note: I am hoping that The Rock gets his own spin-off movie based his "Luke Hobbs" character, because he is becoming bigger than this franchise can handle.
Review of The Fate of the Furious
