In 2001 no one could have predicted that The Fast and the Furious would be the start of a franchise that would one of the biggest in the world. What once started as a story about an undercover cop who had to infiltrate a gang of streetracers as lots of DVD-players were being stolen, slowly (with some missteps) changed into a series which manages to pull in big audiences. The core elements of the first movie remained firmly in place though: that your friends are family and everything you do, of course you have to do it with a car. The family slowly grew with the addition of Dwayne Johnson and bad guy Jason Statham and they added a lot.
When Paul Walker unexpectedly died when the previous movie was being shot it meant a big blow to the franchise. His character was different from the rough and tough machos like Dominic Torettot (Vin Diesel) and Luke Hobbs. Despite him not being present anymore the movie was finished thanks to his brothers and a little bit of movie magic. He is missing in this eight movie and has this impacted the end result?
The movie opens with an enjoyable, although a very over the top, street race which seems to set the tone for this film, but when Dom is contacted by the mysterious Cipher (Charlize Theron), who convinces him to join her he seems to turn his back to the people who mean the most to him.
What direction should you take these movies after your “family” has battled various bad guys (police, two English villains and a former crew member who had amnesia)? It seems very logical to have Dom, the “father” of the group, turn against the rest. But if you’ve been telling your audience in almost each and every film that it’s family first it is just jarring to see how easily Dom joins Cipher (sidenote, why are most bad guys lately hackers?) without informing his crew one way or another and almost killing one of them (even though it is later explained why he did it all). It really destroys everything The Fast & Furious has been about. Add to that some very messy action scenes (like the final one on the ice) and a sequence with autonomous cars which completely steps away from the idea of doing most of the stunts with real cars (which made the other movies so enjoyable (ok, let’s just forget the jumping between buildings in the previous film). That moment feels like a cheap Trackmania replay and slowly shows that this franchise is running out of ideas and that the cracks are starting to show. The sense of joy, brotherhood and smart remarks have mostly disappeared and the addition of Charlize Theron (who mostly yells at everyone from the safety of her plane) and Scott Eastwood (the less you say about his role the better) and the end result is a movie which doesn’t work. It seems the heart of these movies is missing. Which makes you wonder, was it Paul Walker who added that?
