Review of The Fate of the Furious (2017) by Troy D — 09 Oct 2018

Strengths: It's as if each passing installment in this franchise must have higher stakes and bigger action/stunts than the last. This one had some scenes that were masterful looking. One that stands out sees the characters involved in a wild chase across a blanket of snow and ice. It's not too over the top and looks beautiful. There weren't a ton of additions to the cast this time around, but the existing group continued to work well together. Vin Diesel (Dominic Toretto), Michelle Rodriguez (Letty Ortiz), Chris Bridges (Tej Parker), and Tyrese Gibson (Roman Pearce) still get their characters and it works. Nathalie Emmanuel (Ramsey) being back was a welcome sight. Dwayne Johnson (Luke Hobbs) and Jason Statham (Deckard Shaw) played well off one another, making their upcoming spinoff movie seem like it'll be fun.

Weaknesses: The few new additions to the cast didn't work that much for me. Scott Eastwood (Eric Reisner) felt like he wasn't needed for anything more than a bit of comic relief. Charlize Theron (Cipher) was the bigger disappointment, though. She's usually great, but seemed content to just show as little emotion as possible. I get that it was part of the role, but it felt like she could've done so much more. The whole blackmail story also wasn't great. Bringing back Dom's ex just to reveal he has a kid with her felt like it was purely there as a plot point to give this some higher stakes. Also, having the stakes reach the level of preventing World War 3 felt a bit too over the top.

Overall: It works as a good addition to the series, it's just missing things to make it one of the best installments.