THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
The Fast Saga could’ve had a perfect finale with the seventh film. But because of it making a billion dollars at the box office, Universal wanted to repeat success. They did so with the 2017 follow up, but was it worth making? I guess so.
PLOT
The Fate of the Furious shows Dominic Toretto celebrating his honeymoon with his wife Letty Ortiz in Havana, Cuba. His celebration is cut short when a woman named Cipher blackmails him to turn on his family. After that happens, he is recruited by Luke Hobbs to retrieve an EMP from Berlin. After the success of the mission, Dom moves forward going rogue by forcing Hobbs off the road and stealing the EMP from him. Hobbs is able to share this to the others before being arrested by German officers, being placed in a cell across familiar foe Deckard Shaw. Both are broken out thanks to Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell) and his protege dubbed 'Little Nobody' (Scott Eastwood), who needs their help. When reassembling the remaining group (Letty, Roman Pearce, Tej Parker and Ramsey [Nathalie Emmanuel]), they discover that they're in Interpol's Most Wanted list. They also confirm that Cipher is a cyber terrorist and is the one who has Dom in her control. Deckard becomes part of the team because Cipher is the one who hired Owen (Luke Evans) to steal Nightshade. Ramsey attempts to track her with God's Eye, only for the team to be attacked by her and Dom, stealing the program in the progress. Cipher taunts Letty by kissing Dom in front of her. Dom accepts that he has no choice to help her because her leverage is that she is holding people captive: His ex lover Elena Neves (Elsa Pataky) and his illegitimate son whose she calls 'Marcos'. Elena shares that she meant to tell him but couldn't find the right timing when he went to find Letty. She never gave her son an official name because she wanted his father to decide. After recovering from the attack, the team traces them to New York. Dom is assigned to steal a nuclear football from the Russian Minister of Defense. Cipher ensures success by hacking every autonomous car in the city, which causes mayhem throughout. He does try to evade from his team but it doesn't work out completely. He seemingly shoots Deckard but is unable to shoot Letty, resulting in Cipher's right hand man Connor Rhodes (Kristofer Hivju) to intervene. She punishes Dom by having Elena killed. After regrouping, Letty recognizes Connor as the one who demanded Nightshade on behalf of his boss. Further research, he was also connected to Mose Jakande. This means that Dom and company interfered with Cipher's goals more than once and this was an act of getting even. Dom is then sent to Russia to use the EMP on a nuclear submarine. Once it's disabled, Cipher will hijack it in order to use its arsenal, which'll start a nuclear war. The team intercepts again by shutting down the sub's weapons. Deckard is than revealed to be alive and well as his death was staged by Dom and his mother Magdalene (Dame Helen Mirren) during the NY fiasco. Dom was able to make the meeting possible when Raldo (Celestino Cornielle), an acquaintance he met in Havana blocked one of the cameras Cipher was viewing at the time. Deckard got extratced by Tego Leo (Tego Calderon) & Rico Santos (Don Omar) who were disguised as officers. Shaw boards Cipher's plane with his brother Owen to rescue Marcos. They found the plane since Toretto put a tracker on his necklace. Once they give the word that the baby's safe, Dom kills Rhodes and rejoins his team. The main antagonist is able to flee via parachute before Shaw can lay a finger on her. Before she left, she summons a infrared homing missile at Toretto. But he maneuvers it which causes the submarine to be struck. The team shields him from the explosion with their cars. Soon after saving the world again, the team has a barbecue in New York to celebrate the newest addition of the family that is Dom's son. Our main protagonist thanks Deckard for saving him. Hobbs chooses to take time off of work in the DSS to spend more time with his daughter. The film ends with the baby's first name to be declared 'Brian', after Brian O'Conner.
THOUGHTS
This was the first film from the franchise I got to see in theaters. This one had big expectations since we had been seeing back to back success. I originally doubted that I would enjoy it because I knew it isn't the same without Paul Walker. Having said that, I am surprised to admit that I enjoy this one too. I didn't expect F. Gary Gray to pull off such an exciting action film but than again, I recall how fun 2003's The Italian Job was. About all of the fight/chase sequences are as over the top as you'd expect, yet somehow still got my eyes glued because I never thought I'd see anything like it. I do admire that we got a race to open the film, as a reminder of where it all started. I'm still here at this point mainly due to the character driven ensemble. Vin Diesel shines again as Dom but only this time, he is more than vulnerable than we've ever seen him at this point. He is forced to commit crimes because a son he never knew about is held against his will. Lucky for him, he is able to outsmart his tormentor with his orchestration of a family rescue. I admire how he was able to have a clear mindset because if he didn't, it would've backfired. We always knew how gruff he could be to get things done but at the same time, he embraced how affectionate he can be with his newfound responsibility. I had a big smile that his baby is named Paul Walker's character because it was neat to give the actor and character a spiritual presence. This was my favorite outing of Michelle Rodriguez as Letty because now, she is a loving wife who must fight for him as he did for her. If she didn't try to bring him back and call him out on his actions, I don't think he would be focused enough for his plans. We get a lot more of Hobbs for the better and Dwayne Johnson still backs it up as the practical badass we know him for. The respect on him grows because despite the anger of being betrayed, he remains loyal and works with his team to get things done. I also love how he chose to not return to the DSS because I feel like people who save the world more than once deserves an extended vacation. To top it off, the adrenaline he had during that prison fight was so insane I thought he was going to become Black Adam. Since this franchise is heavily fictional, I would've hilariously went along with it if he did right than and there. Tyrese and Ludacris still make me smile whenever Rome and Tej bicker. The fact that they were fighting over Ramsey's heart just gets me a chuckle every time. It was a tough sell to have Deckard switch sides because of what he did to Dom and company, but I think Jason Statham played this out pretty well in my opinion. We choose to forgive him because in a way, we see that he is also a family man as he blames Cipher for his brother's downfall. After saving baby Brian, he earned his spot as a member of Dom's team (for now). Seeing Dom's family fight to get him back reminded me of the sixth film's theme to not give up on your loved ones no matter what. I found that a good thing since it's possible for people to deal with the same issue. The brightest spot this film is ever gonna have is that we finally have a memorable villain for this franchise. Thanks to an amazing performance by Charlize Theron, it is easy to hate Cipher because of how manipulative she becomes the more you see her. She straight up raises the bar on being such, like more than Owen when we last saw him. She is someone who lives off of greed based on her skills, but also comes off psychotic because of how remorseless she is with her decisions. Whenever she messed with Dom's emotions, you just want to scream "Fuck this bitch!". I give credit to a scene from the extended edition and Dom claims that her actions and her identity are based on loneliness. He honestly could be right because I don't see another reason to become a cyberterrorist. Considering that she got away, she's definitely gonna be a problem until the end. This may be entertaining, but there’s way more problems compared to the past outings. First off, how did Dom have a routine in a limited amount of time he was in Cuba? He doesn’t live there, it’s just a honeymoon visit. So I don’t believe Cipher would figure out something of him that’s supposed to be predictable, when it won't even last. My god it was so weird how a government agent discusses a top secret mission to Hobbs at a soccer game. You want to keep this a secret, you could’ve made contact with the guy at his house before the game. Instead, you have the weirdest place to exposit a mission. It’s even weirder that this scene is duplicated in Hobbs and Shaw. Speaking of the opening mission, isn’t it kind of odd for Rome to not be told about the wrecking ball? I know he’s supposed to the butt of the joke, but he could’ve got hurt and someone would definitely have to takes responsibility on that. It is an easier introduction for Deckard to be in the same prison as Hobbs but why was he there in the first place? I thought the last cell was so solitary to the point that he’d die if he’d tried to escape. Was it good behavior that got him a transfer? I doubt it. That prison fight was crazy but how did tasing one cell disarm all of them? I mean that’s shitty security if that’s possible. While I can say it’s an over the top how Dom drives over a bridge at the same time Tej and Roman are passing under, but I’m shook that he’s driving so fast and no authorities are after him. He’s not keeping his cover and he knows it. Continuity errors return because there is an ATM camera that spots Dom and he sees it. The problem is that we don’t see the exact building it’s on. It doesn’t look like it’s on the opposite side of the street like they’re implying, which makes the scene very confusing. To top that off, it was mind boggling how there were civilians on opposites of the street seeing the standoff Dom is about to have with his family and they don’t freaking run for it. I know Letty wants to go after Dom but how does hearing the car mayhem on the radio connect to him? That was Cipher’s doing, not his. Also, I don’t get why she blames Dom for his family coming for him. It makes no sense because she made him betray them. There are two problems I got with the submarine climax: I do not believe Hobbs could not push the missile if his feet are scraping on ice. I know NOS has always been useful in this franchise, but I also don’t buy it if Letty uses it to lunge over ice. The team saving Dom from the blast proves that he’s definitely not a god but shouldn’t he get at least one burn? The fire doesn’t have to be blocked by cars and can pass through. So that’s massive bullshit to behold. If you somehow get to ignore all of that, you really are a general viewer that can enjoy movies for what they are. To wrap up, The Fate of the Furious is a solid action film that didn’t even have to happen but is fun by the end. If you’re curious to see how it turns out, I hope you enjoy it.
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