The abundance of chases, explosions, jumps, and gunfire somewhat brightens the complete absence of thought and meaning, but “Fast & Furious” viewers are used to it – as long as the pace doesn’t slow down!
No sooner had the dust settled, kicked up by the tires of Dominic Toretto’s and his friends’ cars after the previous dizzying races, than the large “family” found itself at the center of intrigues and secret operations again. The mysterious cybercriminal Cipher has found a way to put pressure on Dominic, so much so that he had to go against his friends and loved ones – all in order to steal the latest electromagnetic weapon and disappear with it without a trace. Not yet knowing Cipher’s true plans, Mr. Nobody turns to the two people who were once able to track down the elusive Toretto – agent Luke Hobbs and Deckard Shaw, and together they attract Dominic’s team, because only they can cope with the racer who has crossed the line. The newly assembled team begins the chase for the elusive comrade, who is playing a dangerous game, with the nuclear security of the world at stake.
The original script for “The Fate of the Furious” involved the appearance of Lucas Black, who played the main role in the third film of the franchise, but due to a conflict in filming schedules, the actor dropped out of the team.
The Evolution of a Phenomenon
At what point did the unremarkable, but by no means outstanding, series of films about street racers getting into mind-blowing racing adventures, which received the sonorous name “Fast & Furious” in Russia, turn into a phenomenon uniting millions of viewers around the planet, collecting billions at the box office, and aiming for several films ahead? After the debut film, in which the heroes of Vin Diesel and Paul Walker first clashed? Or in the third series, when it became clear that the film had acquired an intercontinental scale? Or maybe at the fifth step, when with the appearance of Luke Hobbs, the franchise added a sharp musk of machismo to the gasoline fumes? There will be much debate and discussion about what and when changed “Fast & Furious” so that these films could change the world, and for now, we can only record new achievements, bend our fingers when new stars appear in the cast, and mentally estimate the losses that would await the creators of the film if they used real cars every time on set.
More Than Just a Movie?
Why are we talking only about the technical, financial, and casting side of the issue? Because “Fast & Furious” has a very indirect relationship to art. It’s a bright representative of mass culture, it’s a visual attraction, it’s entertainment, but no more – only the format of presentation is from cinema. Everything else in any other case would be considered a failure and a disaster. And no, the script’s absurdity, the шаблонность of the characters, the cardboard villains, and the complete denial of the laws of physics are not a problem of the eighth part. This is the trend and the trademark of the franchise. Remember the giant safe rolling through the streets of the city, the final battle in the plane that drove along the runway for at least two dozen kilometers, finally, refresh your memory of the jumps on cars from skyscraper to skyscraper – common sense in “Fast & Furious” didn’t even spend the night!
So, maybe the series of lush pictures takes a special drama and depth of characters? Not at all! Half a dozen “elders” and two or three “fresher” characters don’t stand out in any special way – each has its own rut, along which he moves from film to film, the viewer knows what to expect from each, every action of these heroes can be predicted. And if there are surprises, they are stupid and naive – and in the new film, Dominic suddenly discovers a very remarkable gift from the past, a kind of huge piano in the bushes, which the authors explained in the style of the guests of the program “Let them talk”: “Well, that’s how it happened…” And the rest are good too: Tej and Roman race, like the royal musketeer Porthos, simply because they race, Letty has played enough of a traitor and is now pretending to be a sweetheart, Ramsey sexually taps her fingers on the keys, and Hobbs and Shaw lazily bicker. Development of heroes? Unsolvable dilemmas? Ethical paradoxes? No, we haven’t heard of them.
And it seems that the authors are making some efforts to push this acting sleepy kingdom. Charlize Theron, Helen Mirren, Scott Eastwood, and a couple of new actors were invited to the eighth film, but all this is useless – one Oscar winner was given only two scenes, and the second was dressed in such a scarecrow that viewers of the first “Bond” films were frightened. Cipher, performed by Theron, is some kind of almost comical Dr. Evil, with an unwavering desire to possess a nuclear bomb, with an indomitable desire to talk about his plans to the enemy, postponing his execution, and even with a fluffy pet, though not a four-legged one. All this together looks no more dramatic or majestic than the recent “Defenders” – the same pathos, angular dialogues, stilted mise-en-scenes, and strained acting, but with a large budget.
In order to organize races on the streets of Havana, the creators of the film had to enlist the highest support of the governments of the United States and Cuba. Fortunately, just at the height of negotiations between the neighboring countries, relations warmed sharply.
Why It Works
But you know what? There is no doubt about another billion box office receipts in Universal’s pocket. For a simple reason – drama, acting, feelings, and even physics don’t matter when there is a race on a burning car backwards, when a hundred cars in New York depict a furious crowd of zombies, when cars are hunted with harpoons, tanks and armored vehicles rush across the ice, and a nuclear submarine jumps above sea level to hit the enemy with a torpedo in flight. Sweeping, dizzying, non-slowing stunts, chases, and special effects work out every ruble paid for a movie ticket. And the density of explosions, jumps, and impacts is such that many will want to repeat the trip to the cinema.
“The Fate of the Furious” will do very well at the box office. Moreover, there will probably be people who will see in it the “thought” traditional for this franchise: family comes first. Banal, but effective. So why not use this formula further, brushing aside the accusations of critics that it has no more to do with cinema than poetry has to do with mechanical engineering? So buckle up and wait for the ninth film.