Can you believe it? Fast
and Furious 8. EIGHT. Numero huit. Nummer acht. Okay, you get the idea, but
the fact that this film franchise has not only made it to its eighth
instalment, but has set global box office records in the process, is really
quite remarkable. But, when you think about it, the astronomical success of
F&F (not to be confused with Tesco’s clothing brand) is quite simple to
explain: fast cars, wild stunts, guns, banter, and yet more fast cars is as
appealing as any leave-your-brain-in-the-foyer blockbuster. High art, this is
not. But there’s enough in Fast and
Furious 8 to rev your cinematic enjoyment levels into the red.
If one were to think of a single word to describe the plot
of Fast and Furious 8, it would
surely be “preposterous”. Indeed, your average thesaurus would struggle to
contain enough synonyms to adequately describe just how ridiculous the story
is, although that is rather beside the point. The franchise has never really
depended on logical or sensible plotting, and this latest outing is stuck firmly
on cruise control. The opening sequences see Dom and Letty (Vin Diesel and
Michelle Rodriguez) enjoying their honeymoon in the classic-car saturated
streets of Havana, until mysterious cyber-terrorist Cipher (played by Charlize
Theron) coerces Dom to go against family – the one thing you don’t do in a F&F film – and work
for her to steal nuclear launch codes.
The rest of the team are, obviously, no best pleased by
Dom’s betrayal and what ensues is a whistle-stop tour around the world,
smashing up enough cars in the process to put Churchill insurance out of
business. Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) is rescued from coaching is daughter’s
football team (he encourages the 10-year-old girls to psych-out their opponents
with the haka) but is less happy to be reunited Jason Statham’s grizzly
Deckard, who joins the rest of the team (comprising Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris and
Nathalie Emmanuel) to help get Dom back on track.
It must be said that director F. Gary Gray (best known for Straight Outta Compton and Law Abiding Citizen) certainly has fun
with the action sequences, creating spectacle for spectacle’s sake, and turning
the streets of New York into a giant Scalextric track. Cipher, from her
high-tech spy plane, has the ability to hack into driverless cars and cause
utter chaos: perhaps not such a wild idea given the apparently hackable nature
of much consumer technology these days. Not to be out-done by the stunts in the
last film, the world-saving moves to the icy landscape of Russia, where the
team drive their Lamborghinis and Bentleys to the limit in order to escape Russian
separatist militia and a nuclear submarine. It sounds absurd, and it is.
A zesty soundtrack – a hallmark of the franchise –
accompanies the action and, for the most part, complements the craziness of the
fight sequences and car chases. This is especially the case in a jail riot
scene in which Johnson and Statham take on prison guards and fellow inmates in
order to get to one another for a good old punch-up. Fans of the franchise will
appreciate the character interactions, loves, and feuds which are in the
screenplay, but such narrative nuances are smothered by the smell of burning
rubber and the sound of sub-machine gun fire.
In amongst all this wild and frenetic action, there are
moments of humour and, perhaps, Jason Statham’s finest screen moment. A bold
claim, I know, but all I’ll say is it involves a gun battle and a baby in a car
seat. Charlize Theron does a nice turn as the enigmatic and rather sinister super-hacker,
even if her role is often reduced to shouting angrily at her henchmen and
typing frantically on a keyboard (the universal Hollywood sign that hacking is
taking place). The banter between the boys – Johnson, Statham, Diesel and Kurt
Russell as Mr Nobody – is perfectly watchable, although Michelle Rodriguez and
Nathalie Emmanuel could have been given a bit more to work with.
Fast and Furious 8 delivers
what many will have been hoping for, and is very much a product of its
predecessors. There will always be a place in the cinema for films of this
type, films which demand no effort on the part of the audience but which can be
enjoyed in a simple way with a mouthful of popcorn. The stunts are impressive,
the characters likeable and, crucially, the film knows what it should be: unashamed
fun.
Clapperboard Rating: * * *
