There is nothing more important than Family….
‘Hell Yeah, lets roll’ …. And roll it does right from the word go. I wasn’t a much F&F fan initially. But somehow Furious 4 got me interested with the interquel between part 2 and 3. Still seeing the opening sequence of the hijacking of the fuel tankers gives me a rush.
Fast 5 saw the entry of Dwayne Johnson into the franchisee and the series has never been the same again. Who can forget Dom raising his arms and saying ‘This is Brasilia’ with Johnson’s DSS agent Hobbs and crew literally surrounded by the crowd.
Life in the Furious Universe has never been the same again post that. The series, just like our Dhoom series, James Bond and now Pirates, keeps getting bigger in its stunts, locales, budgets and cast, with the eye being on who will be the next antagonist.
So be it Hernan Reyes played by Joaquim de Almeida, Owen Shaw by Luke Evans in FF6 or our favourite Deckard Shaw by Jason Statham aided by Tony Jaa, Djimon Hounsou; the series’ villains keep adding more spice for the ever increasing ‘Family’.
FF8, also known as the Fate of the Furious in the US, now has Charlize Theron as Cipher, a cyber terrorist who makes Dom betray his family and give Hobbs the opportunity to mouth ‘Dominic Toretto just turned Rogue’.
Now when you have Hollywood’s very own Salman Khan a.k.a. Vin Diesel change sides, the whole world is not enough to stop him, hence we have Kurt Russell along with his assistant Scott Eastwood, teaming up the family with Hobbs and Deckard, yes you saw it right in the promos, to stop Dom n Cipher.
Cleverly written and brilliantly directed by F. Gary Gray (Straight Outta Compton) the film has some over the top car chases, which has become the new norm of the franchisee. So be it a burning car race in Cuba, the literally remote controlled car chase on the streets of New York, or the submarine v/s Lamborghini chase on ice, the film has it all. But the best set piece is the prison break. One of the best action sequences in a long time.
The smartest thing done by the writers and Gray is that they have used the better actors more on the forefront now, so you have Johnson and Statham leading the pack followed by smart repartees by Gibson, who literally steals the show, ably supported by Eastwood and Ludacris. The human interaction, which blended beautifully in FF7, with Paul Walker’s untimely demise, is taken to the next level here, making the film so much more real and emotional. Rodriguez is her normal self, whilst Nathalie Emmanuel is finding her footing. Helen Mirren shows class in her cameo whilst Russell is still Kurt Russell.
For the franchisee fans, they have already seen it in the previews, but for the rest go ahead, ride this one with your popcorn and iced tea, cos you definitely gonna enjoy this ride.
GET READY, THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING OF THE TRILOGY TO END THE SERIES….
RATING: 4/5
By: Yusuf Poonawala
