'The Fate of the Furious', or the one where Jason Statham becomes MVP
Vin Diesel may be the heart of the Fast and the Furious franchise, and Dwayne Johnson its shiny new face. But in The Fate of the Furious, Jason Statham is the adrenaline coursing through its veins.
The former villain nearly steals the show right out from under its leading heroes, one punch at a time.
If you've seen a Fast and the Furious movie in the past decade or so, you basically know the drill: Dom Toretto (Diesel) and his "family" get caught up in a convoluted, not-exactly-legal adventure that mainly serves as an excuse for ever-crazier action set pieces.
This time, though, the family is forced to battle Dom himself. He's has "gone rogue" and teamed up with Cipher (Charlize Theron), an ice-cold baddie who enjoys cyberterrorism and psychological warfare.
That leaves Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell) to reassemble what's left of Dom's crew to track down their former leader. He also makes a few notable additions, including a clueless rookie sidekick (Scott Eastwood, blandly tolerating jokes at his expense) and convicted criminal Deckard Shaw (Statham).
Shaw will be familiar to fans of the franchise already. He first made a cameo in the end credits for Fast & Furious 6, which revealed he was the one responsible for the death of Han (Sung Kang). He then reappeared as the big bad in Furious 7, finishing the film in a high-security prison. He's still in that prison when we first see him in The Fate of the Furious, but he doesn't stay there for long.
Fate of the Furious largely eschews the martial arts that were a staple of the past few films – which is a shame, since the few fistfights it does have are more energetically shot and staged than the explosive, CG-heavy extravaganzas that are the meat of this movie. (Although those CG-heavy extravaganzas are still pretty good – if goofy, over-the-top action is your jam, it's hard not to enjoy Diesel driving car that's literally on fire or Johnson steering a torpedo with his bare hands.)
But the film's loss is Statham's gain. The British star looks good glowering from behind a glass wall or a steering wheel, but he really shines in close-quarters combat. Shaw's jailbreak in The Fate of the Furious is one of its very best scenes, and a thoroughly convincing reminder that Statham a bona fide action star, rather than just another actor dutifully checking "superhero franchise" off of his to-do list.
It helps, too, that Statham seems to be relishing every last drop of this role. He shares a surprising, and surprisingly sweet, chemistry with Hobbs, with white-hot animosity giving way to a budding bromance. Fate might not be a comedy, but the lightheartedness that Statham showed in Spy makes a return here.
Statham's charisma also goes a long way toward selling the notion that the family would be so quick to embrace the man that once killed one of their own. But then again, the concept of antagonists becoming best buds has been baked into this franchise since Brian O'Connor turned his back on the cops to throw in his lot with Dominic Toretto.
Even with Statham's contributions, though, the film can't help but suffer a bit for separating Dom from his family. The Fast and Furious movies have always served up ridiculous action with a big, heaping side of sappiness, but Fate takes things in a darker direction that doesn't entirely feel earned. Dom, we learn, does have a very good reason for betraying his family – but not for failing to explain to them why.
Add in the fact that not even Theron can sell Cipher's dialogue as remotely reasonable, or make speed-typing look halfway interesting – and what should be a shocking turn of events for the franchise rings a bit hollow. (The film might have been better off putting Theron in a more active role, a la Mad Max: Fury Road or the upcoming Atomic Blonde.)
But those are mere speed bumps in an otherwise zippy ride. While The Fate of the Furious never quite reaches the heights of the last few installments, it still goes by at a breezy pace, and on the way delivers everything we've come to expect and love from this franchise: spectacularly silly action, convoluted but surprisingly detailed continuity, a big sappy heart, and more bald beefcakes than you can shake a stick at.
