I've seen all the movies at this point; the last several in theaters. That said, I'm not going to pretend that I remember what happened in any of them. F8 continues with the reverse-engineering of previous installments, and finds a way to add a main villain who is actually "the one behind it all" (named Sypher, played by Charlize Theron), for real this time. The real selling point of F8 is that she's able to recruit Dom (Vin Diesel) to turn on the rest of the protagonists. That makes it Dom vs. the family. There's some noise about nuclear codes and military bases that I didn't pay attention to. No one is meant to. Just know that it's Vin Deisel, Charlize Theron, and that giant Norwegian ginger from Game of Thrones vs. everyone else.
F8 is an action scene delivery service. It begins with a throwback car race that reminds you that when the series began, it was about the underground racing scene and seeing how many of the most attractive people it could fit in one frame. Some plot business happens, then a brief car chase and an over-the-top prison break. After that, some more plot to get to a crazy sequence in New York City involving remote controlled cars - a lot of them. Some more story happens, and finally, they fight a submarine on a giant ice sheet. All of these sequences look expensive as hell and are massive. None of it is remotely plausible, and no one really cares. The creativity of this production crew is impressive. Now are these well-staged action sequences? Not really. I think the high point for that is still F6, taking down a plane and all. The secret to great action set-pieces is controlled chaos. Anyone can make things blow up. The greats blow things up, know why they are blowing up, have a sense of geography for everything that's happening before and after, and conveys this on screen to the audience. Mad Max: Fury Road is a great example of that. F8 brings the chaos. There's a couple shots that are almost break-taking in the scope and complexity of the undertaking. Not a lot of it makes much sense though. No matter how impracticable the cars or the size of the city, the main characters are always able to show up at the right time in the right place. Sequences often involve a dozen moving parts and only a couple are actually explained. When the protagonists are being chased by a mobile army at the end, they appear to be perpetually pursued by about a dozen vehicles, no matter how many they take out, and with no indication as to where (or when) these reinforcements are coming from. These are the kind of nitpicky things that didn't stop me from enjoying the movie while I watched it. However, they are why this movie won't be remembered as a classic of the genre or even the best of the franchise.
The size of the cast by now in the series is unwieldy. I've always been impressed by how well the franchise handles turnover though. Diesel is perhaps the only essential cast member now, and even that is debatable. So, the loss of Paul Walker (and by extension, Jordana Brewster) doesn't cast a pall over the film. Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), Tej (Ludacris), and Roman (Tyrese Gibson) are all well enough established by now that they only need a few lines to make their presences known. I don't blame Diesel for reportedly butting heads with Dwayne Johnson on the set of this movie, because Hobbs is inching ever close to lead status. He is the Hulk in this movie, and it's really entertaining to see how superhuman they make him. He doesn't just hit people. He's a wrecking ball. Nathalie Emmanuel isn't developed much beyond where she was in the last movie. She feels like a part of the team, and that's enough for now. Scott Eastwood is introduced as a potential replacement for Kurt Russell's Mr. Nobody*. Jason Statham gets to be a good guy and have some silly fun. Charlize Theron hams it up. I don't think anyone would argue that she is giving her A-game nor was that required of her. She could either come back for F9 or never be seen again. I'd be fine either way.
*He's also a savvy Paul Walker stand in if it turned out that audiences needed a traditional handsome white guy in the group. Based on F8 though, he's not essential.
The Fast and the Furious franchise isn't going away. Any loses domestically are more than being made up for internationally, where it just broke the worldwide opening weekend box office record, despite making only 40% of what The Force Awakens did in the US. F8 proved that qualitatively, the rotating chair of directors can make a difference on the end product. F. Gary Gray did fine, but he's no Justin Lin at making this type of film. It's not a great movie, but it is an entertaining movie. I had fun, even though I'll remember approximately 3% of the plot by the time the next film in the series is released.
Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend
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