RUNNING OUT OF GAS?

On April 14, the eighth installment (yes you read that correctly) of the popular “Fast & Furious” franchise hit theaters… and it’s stunningly good.  “The Fate of The Furious” is essentially about Dominic Toretto (played by Vin Diesel) is blackmailed by a cyber terrorist into stealing a bunch of equipment, including EMPs, that could start a war. So Letty, Tej, Roman, Ramsey, and DSS Agent Hobbs have to hunt down Dom with some help from Deckard Shaw (the villain from “Furious 7”). This movie gave me everything I wanted from a “Fast & Furious” movie. There were insane cars, nonstop action, and physic-defying stunts. If you go in expecting some kind of masterpiece like “Goodfellas” or “Hacksaw Ridge,” then you’re going to be greatly disappointed. First off, I loved that they gave a ton of screen time to Jason Statham’s character. He was the best part about “Furious 7” yet he wasn’t in it as much as I would’ve liked. He definitely delivers the best action sequences in the movie. He even has one ridiculously epic fight scene where he has a baby in one hand and a pistol in the other. That scene alone made the movie. Then there’s Dwayne Johnson being the macho man that he is. He hurls outrageous one-liners to Jason Statham about all sorts of pain he’s going to put him through.

Acting is about average for a “Fast & Furious” movie. No one is going to win an Oscar for their work in this movie that’s for sure. The action and stunt set pieces were ridiculously great. They literally have cars driving around the streets of New York like the zombies were running in “World War Z”. Plus there’s a scene where Dwayne Johnson pushes a torpedo while hanging onto the side of a heavily armored truck and it just perfectly hits the enemy car. The story did drag on for about 10 minutes during the second act of the movie and there are a few scenes where the CGI is slightly off.

The ending was very bittersweet because it deals with the late Paul Walker’s character Brian. Speaking of him, he is definitely missed in this movie but the movie still holds its ground as the best “Fast & Furious” movie.

In the end, this movie was a blast. The action, stunts, and characters were great; this is definitely the best installment in the franchise. For that I’m going to give it an A-.