A team of varied specialists are surprised to find their leader Dom, (Vin Diesel) turning his back on them, working with a criminal mastermind Cipher (Charlize Theron) to steal world changing weapons. Only when they discover why Dom would do such a thing will they uncover The Fate of the Furious.
We say, “They should’ve stopped with Furious 7.”
TAYLOR: I can’t say that I’m surprised to be disappointed by this film. It is, after all, the eighth iteration of the same film: gas, brake, punch, punch, punch, gas, gas, punch, gas, brake, punch, gas. Mumbly Joe is gonna make somebody sorry for disrespecting him on the playground, the CIA is going to want to enlist that particular skill set, tanned, young guns will quake in anticipation. Unfortunately, the script is a never ending barrage of ridiculous plot points set to cliched dialogue from films gone by, way by.
HOWE: So I take it, like me, you enjoyed it then? The Fate of the Furious, what a load of trash but for some reason I enjoyed it. We have mentioned before about removing your brain and plopping it in the seat next to yourself and I did that as soon as I sat down with my drink and popcorn. I really can’t think of another franchise or film that is soooooo far-fetched that I actually enjoyed it. Forget about the acting, forget about the story line and even forget about the fight scenes. For me it is all about the cars, where else except Hollywood would you have a Fiat Panda keeping up with a Bentley?
TAYLOR: Well, see there you go, you can enjoy the cars for what they are, because you are a bit of gear head, whereas I can only enjoy the chases. I am happy do report that every race, chase and crash in the film was fun and exciting, given that you accept things are going to get ridiculous. The driving and stunt work are the stars, because the stars in this turkey are terrible, as is the script. Jason Statham and the Rock — sorry, Duane Johnson — give the best performances and they’re coasting on likeability. A super classy Brit makes a brief appearance as well, and she also manages to stink up the place.
HOWE: I did like the fact that they brought back Statham, maybe that has to do with the fact that they lost franchise star Paul Walker a few years ago and they needed a new twist in the story line or that they just needed to add a little class to the proceedings. Either way it worked well and I thought it was a good idea throwing in Helen Mirren, just for good measure.
TAYLOR: Diesel and the Rock will reunite in Furious 9: The Farcening, only because audiences will continue to pay to see the same movie over and over again. Stop it! See something else, anything else. Send a message to Hollywood, “Make something else!” Your dollars are your voice.
Howe gives The Fate of the Furious 3 crosses out of 5.
Taylor gives it 1 shiny bald guy out of 5.
– Brian Taylor and Peter Howe are film reviewers based in Vernon, B.C.