Review of The Fate of the Furious (2017) by Troy C — 16 Apr 2017

There are only two elements on which all Fast and Furious movies should be judged on: the crazy car-centric set pieces and the interplay between characters who, despite being stereotypes, are familiar and fun.

Using that yardstick, this previously indefatigable franchise appears to have hit a wall with an almighty crash; the eighth instalment stalls its way through a relatively dull and repetitive two-plus hours that places it in the bottom half of Fast flicks.

There is a plethora of car carnage as expected, but director F. Gary Gray can't muster a sequence that's as inventive or as memorable as any number of scenes from the last three films, and the finale is the most rote climax since the fourth entry.

Gray seems to be devoid of the edge that James Wan (Ep 7) and Justin Lin (Ep 3-6) so gleefully brought to their vehicular mayhem and bruising fisticuffs, however he does deliver an extremely entertaining hand-to-hand combat sequence with the Stath kicking arse aboard a plane.

The untimely death of Paul Walker also leaves a massive gap in the cast. His cockiness and charm as ex-Fed Brian O'Conner was the perfect antidote to Vin Diesel's muscle-head grunting and is sorely missed in this episode.

His absence is only made worse by newcomer Scott Eastwood's utterly bland performance; the sooner they realise a Walker replacement is impossible at this point in the series the better. Yet Eastwood isn't the only concern, many of the established cast are clearly on autopilot.

Tyrese Gibson is all shout and no laughs, Ludacris looks tired and uninterested, and Michelle Rodriguez has the same old star-crossed lovers crap to plough through. Perhaps most disappointing is Charlize Theron's underwhelming cyber-villain, who partakes in exactly zero action and is reduced to sprouting cut-away lines like "you're smart, but not smart enough.

" The Fate of the Furious is a frustratingly tedious and unimaginative effort that, especially for a fan of the franchise like myself, is ultimately a huge let down.