THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS

What started as a simple Point Break with cars idea, centred around illegal street racing, has evolved over the past sixteen years to become a box-office behemoth, totally disregarding its roots, instead opting to become a ludicrous action franchise that now has its eight film entering cinemas.

If I'm honest, even though they are utterly ridiculous, I have become more of a fan of the Fast and the Furious franchise ever since they changed things up massively with Fast Five back in 2011. With each film since, they've really gone overboard to try and outdo themselves and The Fate of the Furious might just be their craziest outing yet.

When the mysterious cyber-terrorist known as Cipher (Charlize Theron) seduces Dom (Vin Diesel) into working for her, it's up to those he once saw as family to stop him, leading to a lot of vehicular chaos.

I mentioned earlier that the franchise has totally disregarded its roots, which isn't entirely true, seeing as the first ten minutes includes a number of gratuitous ass shots and some actual street racing, but that's about it. From then on in, The Fate of the Furious is an adrenalin fuelled action movie that definitely rocks out with its cock out, delivering plenty of blistering action that will keep you entertained right through to next week.

Seriously, some of the action sequences in Fate of the Furious will yet again be headache inducing for physicists however, you simply have to buy into them and just enjoy the ride if you want to have any chance of enjoying this film. A scene involving cars being hacked and swarming around New York sure does look bonkers but it suits the franchise as it is now, plus it was funny as hell.

The fatal flaw once again in one of these films is the script and just how awful some of it sounds when these characters say it out loud. I mean, I'm not expecting Shakespeare in any shape or form, but some of the lines of dialogue in The Fate of the Furious is some of the worst you'll hear all year.

Coming to the performances, The Fate of the Furious features an ensemble cast, many seen before in the franchise, who clearly share great chemistry together, leading to a more enjoyable viewing experience. Tyrese Gibson once again comes off a little like the kid in class trying too hard to be funny, before being totally upstaged by the duo of Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham, who genuinely share some funny moments together. Oh yeah,  Johnson and Statham get dealt some awful dialogue but the two of them really do make it work, and Statham gets the best moment of the film. Seriously, it's hilariously brilliant and I  hope Statham remains a franchise regular from here on in. 

Charlize Theron joins the party as the villain of the piece but she doesn't really get much to do apart from sit behind a computer so she does feel a little wasted, particularly as we know she can handle an action sequence after her performance in Mad Max: Fury Road.

There's talk of taking the franchise to space in the next instalment which would take the franchise to even more ludicrous heights. As far as I'm concerned now though, The Fate of the Furious is an entertaining entrant into one of the better blockbuster franchises around. There's a nice little tribute to Paul Walker's contribution to the franchise in there for good measure too.

Verdict: ★★★