What Do The Reviews Have To Say
The Fast and the Furious franchise is basically unstoppable at this point — and how can it not be when it stars a guy who can move a fired torpedo with his bare hand?
.@RoyalNavy Could @TheRock actually move a fired torpedo with his hand? #FateOfTheFurious pic.twitter.com/EmYnJ10Dtf
— Bill Bradley (@gumgumerson) April 11, 2017
But while the series is unstoppable with audiences, what do the critics think about the latest installment, The Fate of the Furious? Here's what the reviews have to say.
It's… Extremely Over The Top (In A Good Way)
The stunts define spectacular… The pop-absurdist finale, set on a Russian glacier, is a digital hellzapoppin. And isn't that all we want from these speed chasers? Is it enough? Probably not. The Fate of the Furious doesn't have a thought in its head to match the best of Bond and Bourne. What it is, in every sense of the term, is insanely entertaining.
The goal with each new film seems to be to one-up the last, and if you're wondering how one possibly one-ups 2015's Furious 7, a movie in which cars fall out of planes and jump between skyscrapers in Abu Dhabi…well, fasten your seat belts for the eighth installment of this increasingly bonkers series. These guys have driven on land, they've even driven in air and — what's even left? Oh yes, water — I kid you not, they actually go there.
The movie climaxes with a preposterously elaborate showdown at a military outpost in the frozen Russian wasteland, and the sequence has everything: a zipping-across-the-glacier momentum that merges with destruction, fireballs even bigger than you expect, as well as a humongous nuclear submarine smashing through the ice, so that Dom can do a split-second kamikaze fly-drive right through it.
[Variety]
[I]t's impressive just how bonkers Fate is, like a litter of kittens hopped up on grade-A catnip.
But There's Not Much To Keep It Fresh
The series' plotlines have largely abandoned the thrill of the nitrous-boosted finish for the spectacle of mayhem, and these expected ballets of exotic twisted metal, military technology, and tensed steel cabling (always with the cables!) seem to be beyond Gray's abilities.
[AV Club]
In fact, it recycles plot-twisting devices from earlier chapters and keeps action firmly in the street-hoods-save-the-world neighborhood entered a couple of years ago. Fate delivers exactly what fans have come to expect, for better and for worse, and it would be a shock to see it disappoint producers at the box office.
And It's Kind Of Slow?
"The Fate of the Furious" clocks in at a snail-like two hours and 16 minutes, proving you can rev your engines and spin your wheels all over the planet, and yet still move at a snail's pace. Fast and Furious? More like Slow and Ponderous.
"F8" may be a good 20 minutes shorter than either of the last two chapters, but the parade of dull action beats make the movie feel as long as the never-ending runway from "Fast and Furious 6."
Charlize Theron's Villain Is A Disappointment
Those eagerly awaiting Theron's foray into the quarter-mile-at-a-time lifestyle could be underwhelmed; she plays the part in a barely modulated purr, like she's auditioning to be the spokesperson for InfoSec Femme cologne.
[Vulture]
Not every performance fares so well… Most underwhelming is Theron, who does what she can to enliven what's otherwise a disappointingly expository role. While there's some quality material here for anybody who can appreciate some old-fashioned bad hacker movie lingo ("There are over a hundred cars here!" "Hack them all"), Cipher is as her name suggests, less a character than an obstacle to be conquered by the power of family.
TL;DR
If you're a fan of the franchise, you'll probably enjoy Fate of the Furious, but it falls well short of the heights set by some of its predecessors — even if the stunts are crazier.
Watch The (Bonkers) Trailer