Susan Granger’s review of “The Fate of the Furious” (Universal Pictures)
The numbers tell the tale: the eighth installment of this long-running series revved up an estimated $532.5 million worldwide, setting a new record for an opening weekend.
Built around muscle cars, drag racing and the importance of family, this high-speed action thriller brings back Vin Diesel as gruff, monosyllabic Dominic Toretto, and it’s filled with spectacular, globe-spanning vehicular destruction.
In Havana, Dom and Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) interrupt their honeymoon so that he can race against the Cuban who tried to heist his cousin’s jalopy. Tinkering with the old car, Dom strips down the engine and installs a dangerous nitrous-oxide canister. You can already visualize what happens next.
Injecting vicious fuel, there’s a sociopathic supervillain, an icy hacker known as Cipher (Charlize Theron), who wants Dom to do a job for her. When he hesitates, she shows him something on her cellphone that changes his mind. What is it? We have to wait to find out.
Meanwhile, on a mission with lawman Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson), his gang (Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Nathalie Emmanuel) and Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell) to retrieve a powerful EMP device, Dom goes rogue and delivers it to Cipher.
So, shifting gears, they recruit Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham), a somewhat implausible twist since he was responsible for the death of original team member Han. Plus, there’s by-the-books Eric Reisner (Scott Eastwood, resembling his clench-jawed father) and Helen Mirren as mysterious Magdalene.
Scripted by Chris Morgan and directed by F. Gary Gray (“Straight Outta Compton,” “The Italian Job”), there’s only one mention of Brian – a.k.a. Paul Walker, who died in a car crash in 2013 – cementing his spirit as an integral part of the gang.
FYI: There are no post-credit scenes so you don’t have to linger.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Fate of the Furious” is a slick yet shallow 6. So far, the “Fast and Furious” films have earned $4.4 billion worldwide, making it the most successful franchise in Universal’s history and the eighth highest-grossing film series.
