Review of The Fate of the Furious (2017) by Dustin D — 24 Apr 2017

This movie couldn't be more cheesy. This movie couldn't be more ridiculous. This movie couldn't be more over-the-top. This movie couldn't be more absurd. But it all works well for it. No matter how predictable this movie becomes and how much they just not only push the envelope, but light the envelope on fire and threw it into a burning dumpster, this movies just works.

This movie is definitely not an award winner of any kind, except for maybe if you count the MTV Awards. This movie is definitely not breaking ground on anything that will be considered great pieces of film history. But this film is able to grab the popcorn genre by the butt-cheek daisy duke shorts and put out one of the very best popcorn films you could get. Most of that is thanks to Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham, some credit to Vin Diesel. The girls wearing hardly any clothes at all, the car chase scenes that make no sense whatsoever, well they just fill in the blanks to make this appeal to every man with a breath in his body. They all somehow fit together very well too prove that this franchise is back with a fury from when it tanked around film number 3.

'The Fate of the Furious' is the eighth film in the Fast & Furious franchise and picks up with a mysterious woman seducing Dom Toretto into turning on his family. Something that similarly happened to Michelle Rodriguez's character Letty a few films ago. And they always talk about family, family that you never turn your back on family. So that was kind of annoying. After this woman, Charlize Theron finds a way to put Dominic Toretto in a trance to actually attack his own family and fight back against his own family, the crew goes on a mission to stop her and save him.

At the start of the film, The Rock gets locked up next to Jason Statham's character Deckard Shaw and the two end up teaming up to track down Dom and get the family back together.

It is quite funny how this movie just makes the rock out to be the world's strongest man. There's one scene where he's curling cement, in a way that cement would never be curled. At least that easily. The biggest takeaway from this film I thought, the one thing that I truly enjoyed the most was the banter between Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Jason Statham. Those two guys are so much fun just to watch back and forth, just their jabbing at each other would make for a blockbuster of it's own. Hence why the report came out that says that Universal is considering doing a spin-off film with the relationship between these two and having them track down Charlize Therone's character. But nothing is quite yet set on that project, it's all very preliminary. But if there were to be a spin-off, that is the exact one I would want.

I was very intrigued to find that Charlize Therone was the villain in this film and I thought she actually pulled it off pretty damn well considering her three biggest challenges in this movie are three meatheads that like to kick ass, Vin Diesel, The Rock and Jason Statham. How is she going to intimidate them? How is she going to be believable as the higher power against them? And she pulled it off like a headliner at amateur hour. She plays a hacker named Cypher, like I said this cheesy and ridiculous film is just that. And the cheese factor definitely hit her name hard. But she plays a very sadistic and very intelligent evil hacker. I liked what she did here and I think she is going to become one of the top names in action films very soon, within the next couple years. Because her performance in this, and her performance coming up in 'Atomic Blonde' are going to showcase what she showcased in 'Mad Max: Fury Road,' and that is a badass chick who can actually act quite well.

This movie has already made almost a billion dollars and will definitely hit it within the next few days. Does it deserve it? Is it more enjoyable than 'The Force Awakens?' 'The Force Awakens' held the record for biggest weekend debut before this one, and I have to say I would rather watch 'The Fate of the Furious' then 'The Force Awakens.' But as far as depth of storyline or anything like that, I would say Star Wars is the prettier, the more meaty film. As of right now there is scheduled to make 10 of these movies, but I guarantee you if these next couple films reach a billion dollars this quickly, there will be more. Until the Rock and Vin Diesel decide they don't want to do these movies anymore, they will keep making them.

Like I said before, this film is cheesy and predictable and over-the-top absurd. At no moment was I really surprised in this film, or shocked for a storyline in this film, but the over the top action and the brilliant way it was put together makes his move enjoyable. There's no way I can give this movie 5 stars. It's simply just is not a strong script. There's not a whole lot of depth to this film. But it is a fun movie to watch in theaters. I definitely would not have had as much fun watching this at home as I did in theatres. So you have to watch his movie in theaters to get the full effect. I would avoid the IMAX 3D, but but IMAX itself would be worth it.

I could get into spoilers with this film but there's really just not that much to grab onto storyline-wise in this film that is really worth talking about. Like I said it's a good movie, but if you're looking for a good story, this is not it. If you're looking for the film with the kind of action that translates to any language in the world, this is it. This is just about as big as you can get for a popcorn film and as good as a movie as you can get for a popcorn film. So just shut your brain off, buy some popcorn and enjoy this movie.

I give this movie it 4 out of 5 stars. There's not a whole lot to grab onto in this film, but it's a hell of a ride and fun to watch. And the relationship between the Rock and Jason Statham is one of the funnest parts of this movie and should be witnessed. It should be witnessed.