“The Fast and the Furious” franchise, which began in 2001 with an FBI investigation into illegal street racing, now is an excuse to show off the most ridiculous car-related stunts ever seen on film. The reason the series keeps its integrity throughout this wild ride (pun intended) is its other F-word: family.
The core characters, a melting pot of personality and, notably, ethnic diversity, share a bond so intense it seemingly overshadows everything after seven films. Even the death of a main lead, Paul Walker, in 2013 did not stop his character, Brian, from attending the traditional “family” gathering on the beach in “Furious 7,” thanks to some CGI.
“Furious 7” did effectively write Brian out of the rest of the Furious films (yes, there will be more) and added Nathalie Emmanuel’s hacker, Ramsey, to the family. But Vin Diesel’s Dom has remained a constant leader to the group since its formation. Therefore, the key plot point of “The Fate of the Furious” is truly shocking to fans: Dominic Toretto has turned his back on family.
But not really.
Though to reveal the exact reason he betrays the crew would perhaps give away too much, it is safe to say Dom does not actually have a change of heart and decides that his friends and family mean nothing to him. He is forced to work for Cipher (Charlize Theron), a villainous hacker so good at her job that, as Ramsey says, “even Anonymous won’t mess with her.”
And with good reason. Cipher is terrifying; not only is she incredibly competent and violent, she is wholly cold-blooded. She wears her hair in small twists reminiscent of Medusa’s head of serpents and her icy blue eyes seem unblinking (Medusa, of course, can turn men to stone with one look).
Her motive is not really convincing — she spits a lot of high-brow intellectual discourse about theories and evolutionary biology, but her desires boil down to vague world domination and somewhat petty revenge. This lack of character insight honestly makes her scarier, as she seems to mostly enjoy torturing and taunting Dom. Her sidekick Rhodes (Kristofer Hivju) is also frightening in his evil one-dimensionality.
Fan favorites switch sides to play for the good guys in Fate as well: Jason Statham’s baddie Deckard Shaw joins the team in hunting down Cipher, much to the dismay of Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson). Their increasingly ridiculous pre-fight banter is entertaining as a running joke and a good way to make the once-villain as likable as any other comic relieving family member.
This role is mainly filled, as usual, by Roman (Tyrese Gibson), who actually has some competition as the team’s biggest buffoon when joined by Little Nobody (Scott Eastwood). Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell) is the head honcho organizer of the team’s missions, and attempts to train his new recruit with this one, hence the nickname. To everyone’s delight, he is not very good yet.
The more intense side of the film rests on Michelle Rodriguez’s Letty, Dom’s wife. His betrayal hurts her most of all, and it is hard for fans to think of anything that could turn him away from her. Dom’s fight against his family is a great plotline for a “Fast and Furious” movie because it pits the best against the best — the stunts can be more skillful and the stakes are higher because one wants both sides to win — but when the film focuses on Letty, her pain is contagious. For a “Fast and Furious” fan, it is truly upsetting to see Dom doing such evil.
Bigger stakes mean a bigger payoff, though, and the final sequence of the film is a wild crowd-pleaser (and this after an insane mid-movie sequence featuring a horde of self-driving cars in “zombie” mode). The end of the film feels earned after the somewhat heavy emotions of the previous two hours — and seven-odd films. Family matters.
