The Fate of the Furious (2017)

[RyanSz 3140]

While it's a foregone conclusion that this will be covered on the show, I felt it would be better suited to be in this section of the forum until then so as to not have multiple conversations about it split up over other threads. I will say that I enjoyed the film, but in my opinion it was a so-so affair compared to the three previous films.

 

 

I did like that the reason Dom was pulled into Charlize Theron's plot wasn't because Brian and Mia were being threatened, but rather Elena and a baby Dom didn't even know he had. Yet the issue here is that the last time we saw Elena was I'm assuming in movie time a year ago and she was flat as a board, and prior to that she was living with Dom during the events of Fast 6 (probably 2-3 years movie time prior to F8), and that baby cannot be more than 18 months old, so unless Dom was cheating on Letty with Elena, that is NOT his kid.

 

I thought Charlize Theron was a good foil to the team, but she needed to be more involved against them and her whole plan about creating a nuclear version of accountability is ridiculous, even by the standards of an apparent anti-government uber-hacker, which is apparently a thought many others had after watching this. http://www.vulture.com/2017/04/fast-8-did-charlize-therons-evil-plan-make-any-sense.html

 

Also the idea that she was secretly behind the evil plans of the last two films is such a stretch so much show that it reminded me of the old USA spy show Burn Notice where a disavowed spy tries to get his life and career back after being betrayed by someone. Each season basically ended with him thinking he found out who was behind it, only to find out they were only the next rung on an ever growing ladder of bad guys who had a hand in ruining one guys career. I can only assume that in the next film we will find out that Cipher was just working for the new Big Evil who in turn will be working for someone else. Which that is a big issue for me in these films that Adam Scott also talked about in the Fast 6 episode in that in the first film these were drag racers who were stealing DVD players, and now they are breaking into secret Russian nuke bases using a cadre of skills usually seen by Ethan Hunt or James Bond.

 

I wish Kurt Russell had a larger part like I thought he would, especially after how awesome he was in the previous film, because Scott Eastwood's character lacks his charm and comes off as a douche.I had the same feelings this time around towards Roman where I feel Tyrese is laying it on incredibly thick with the one lines and cheesy jokes.

 

I loved the chemistry between the Rock and Jason Stathem and would have loved more of that in this film, but it made no sense for Dom or the rest of the crew to openly accept him or Owen Shaw as they were responsible for the near death/amnesia of Letty and the deaths of Han and Giselle, so apparently family doesn't mean shit so long as the guys who killed them can rescue your probably-not baby. I like Hellen Mirren's role and was pleasantly surprised to see Luke Evans return, but things like the Cuban gangster joining the team was so telegraphed it was almost like they had a neon sign hanging over his head saying "he'll be back in the final act."

 

And I cannot believe that they are going to have the same canon issue that they faced with Paul Walker's character. He left because he now has an actual family, so much so that the crew refused to bring him in for this caper. So now what happens as Dom has a child? Obviously he will remain with the crew so it ends up just making Paul Walker's character look like a quitter who looks out only for himself. It just comes off as an ego thing for Diesel basically saying "I can keep BOTH families."

 

And therein lies the real issue with this movie in that it's basically the Vin Diesel show now that Paul Walker is gone. Now it's just a full fledged showcase of how awesome and skilled Dom is. Even when he wasn't on screen the topic of discussion was about how can they really stop him because he's so great. In the end it makes this a tired trope of the last couple films to the point where it's becoming a talked about that maybe Diesel should exit from the franchise for at least a while in order to let the focus on the other characters who have really been developing over the last few films. http://ftw.usatoday.com/2017/04/the-fate-of-the-furious-vin-diesel-exit-the-franchise-dont-at-me

 

 

I was surprised that by my friend and my count, there were only 15 uses of family during the course of this movie. I was also kind of hoping that during the soccer game scene with the Rock that after the big dance/chant number that he led his team in that it would have been revealed that they sucked at soccer because they spent all of their time practicing that routine.

[IMAHUGEHDTGMFAN 1837]

I want to talk about F8 too!!! But i dont have my notes at hand

 

In 2 hours I'll get home and I will reply to some things you said and share some of my views!

[ElieB 238]

First thought: Does ANYONE actually like a hacker-fight on screen when a scene volleys back and forth between two people pressing randoms keys to accomplish something completely unintelligible to thwart the other, back and forth? It's the fucking worsssssst!

 

Much more to say of course but that shit really got my goat

[firsttimecallerlongtimelistenr 3590]

i enjoyed the last 30 mins but the rest .. it's really boring and dumb and too high concept and long and ... i think this might be worth doing just i think the gang could do a great episode about anything at this stage but it really left movies 5 thru 7 down. why was there so much CGI?? and way to much talking ... all that tech talk sucked the life out of it

 

and charlize was awful .. really really awful.

 

but tyrese, the rock, statham and even vin & michelle were on form. once they got out of cuba

 

 

but my sister, who has only seen the first one, really liked it. she laughed the whole way from the little girls doing the haka up to the selfie ... maybe i was just expecting another fast 5

[RyanSz 3140]

First thought: Does ANYONE actually like a hacker-fight on screen when a scene volleys back and forth between two people pressing randoms keys to accomplish something completely unintelligible to thwart the other, back and forth? It's the fucking worsssssst!

 

Much more to say of course but that shit really got my goat

 

Watching that whole thing play out I was thinking the whole time about why don't they just destroy the submarine once they've gotten the guidance chip? They apparently have a slew of weapons and gadgets, so are you telling me that they don't have C4 or grenades or I don't know an all-terrain tank with a high capacity turret on it that could do some proper damage to the hull?

 

i enjoyed the last 30 mins but the rest .. it's really boring and dumb and too high concept and long and ... i think this might be worth doing just i think the gang could do a great episode about anything at this stage but it really left movies 5 thru 7 down. why was there so much CGI?? and way to much talking ... all that tech talk sucked the life out of it

 

and charlize was awful .. really really awful.

 

but tyrese, the rock, statham and even vin & michelle were on form. once they got out of cuba

 

 

but my sister, who has only seen the first one, really liked it. she laughed the whole way from the little girls doing the haka up to the selfie ... maybe i was just expecting another fast 5

I myself loved the segment in New York with the zombied cars, which didn't look as bad as I thought it would with the CGI, although the thought that Dom's car can easily dispatch 5 cars of varying weight and size was laughable even for this series. I thought Theron was okay but do feel that she should have been more hands on in either the fighting or killing of certain people. The whole Cuba opening made me remember why I hated the first four movies in this series and the XXX series. The whole car party douchebag meet up just reeks of someone writing about something that they think the understand when all it does it make everyone involved in the scene look like total assholes.

[ElieB 238]

So Ryan basically nailed it. on every point.

 

But all that being said, I'm totally fine with plot not making a lick of sense, and the ever increasing stakes, and the incestuous 'ladder' of new villains running the show behind the scenes.

 

What really bothered me is that they've moved away from the incredible practical effects and stunt works that make these movies so unbelievable. The CGI and green screen just can't live up to the hype no matter how high the stakes get. Even though the whole submarine bit in the trailers had me super hyped, it kind of let me down. But if they had used a real sub actually chasing real cars on real ice it would have been unreal.

 

The second thing is that the team just isn't the same anymore. The chemistry isn't there and the attitudes are just different all around. The same plot and the same dialogue with the fast 5 team would, I'm sure, have delivered. But who the fuck is Scott Eastwood? And Does anyone actually like having Ramsey/Missandei around? I was listening to the F!thismovie podcast for Fast8 and Adam Riske had the perfect analogy. He says that even though it disappointed it's not as if a bad installment ruins the franchise because the Fast movies are like having a favorite sports team. There are going to be great years with great rosters and there are going to be disappointing years, years when you favorite players and total all-stars got traded away or injured or retired. It's the same team, but also not. There's always hope the GM will make some great trades or draft picks in the future, or just rebuild. This roster was a dud. (Even though Hobbs and Chev Chelios were fucking great together and Statham's final scene stole the movie) It's like we traded away Brian, Han and Gisele for Scott Eastwood, Ramsey and a retired Kurt Russel who very aptly do nothing.

 

It did deliver a lot of classic Fast moments but certainly didn't have that rollercoaster pace of recent installments. Even the opening act in Cuba, which was fun in a classic Fast way, just dragged the movie down cause I've gotten so used to these movies opening with a bang and getting the plot rolling*ahem* almost immediately. These scenes came across as toretto fan fiction...

[ElieB 238]

It would for sure still make a great episode just listening to the gang dissect this INSANE plot and how it relates to previous films though. It's pretty fucking laughable.

 

Also what are the spoiler text box codes again? I had a weird story regarding run-time that I can't relate without giving away specific events.

[firsttimecallerlongtimelistenr 3590]

 

Also what are the spoiler text box codes again? I had a weird story regarding run-time that I can't relate without giving away specific events.

 

use square brackets for these instead of the normal brackets

 

(spoiler)(/spoiler)

 

had to use the () cause it just created a spoiler .. hope it makes sense

[ElieB 238]

Thanks Not the Momma!

 

Ok guys, legit spoilers so don't be dumb about clickin, alright?

 

So Fast 8 actually clocks in at about 2h10mins but on the website I use to check movie times it said 2h40mins!

 

Now I tend to bring a couple beers into especially big dumb movie viewings like this. Thinking this was going to be nearly 3 hours long I came prepared. At the end of the russian base and spy plane assault scenes, the movie was only at about 2 hours and Cipher had just ESCAPED capture to get away unharmed! WHAT! At this point I'm POSITIVE we're about to get a real final act that somehow hadn't been revealed at all in trailers and it was really just starting to get good. Maybe-baby-dom is back in safe hands and the team can finally unite with all the new members going after Cipher together. Cause we can't fucking end this movie like this can we? The big bad just GOT AWAY??? So there I am, hands poised to crack open one last beer and then BAM BAM BBQ! Wha-wha-whaaaaat?? Hits me like a ton of bricks that the show is over and this is the bizarro feel-weird ending we're getting spoon-fed. Shaw at the family BBQ and a whole lot of new, out-of-place faces around the entirely un-familiar BBQ local. Where the fuck are we? Why is Mr.Nobody here? NO SPOOKS AT THE DINNER TABLE!

 

Ugh. It was just so upsetting for a final scene.

 

[FisterRoboto 7499]

Honestly, the only thing I didn't like about it was how much they just had Charlize basically standing in a room saying reaction lines to everything going on.

 

Otherwise, this is probably my 3rd favorite of the movies (my order: 5 > 7 > 8 > 6 > 4 > 1 > 2 >>>>>> 3).

 

All the set pieces are wonderful. I loved the opening race and

Dom basically turning his car into a bomb to win

.

 

The zombie car thing was probably the weakest set piece, but even that was all right because it set up the Dom vs Familia fight, which I loved.

 

And Does anyone actually like having Ramsey/Missandei around?

I don't dislike her, but I wish the series could find something for the women other than Letty to do. It bummed me out that they haven't used Elena since Fast Five and then

she exists in this movie just to pop out a baby and then get fridged

. If they actually wrote something for her to do, I'd like her a lot more.

 

Everything about this movie is the exact kind of over-the-top nonsense I love about this series.

[ElieB 238]

If they actually wrote something for her to do, I'd like her a lot more.

 

Everything about this movie is the exact kind of over-the-top nonsense I love about this series.

 

I can't argue with that... Which is why I'm hating the team but not what they were trying to do necessarily.

 

It does seem like this marks a 10 year low-point for women in the series though despite the big bad being a woman this time around.

[RyanSz 3140]

Thanks Not the Momma!

 

Ok guys, legit spoilers so don't be dumb about clickin, alright?

 

So Fast 8 actually clocks in at about 2h10mins but on the website I use to check movie times it said 2h40mins!

 

Now I tend to bring a couple beers into especially big dumb movie viewings like this. Thinking this was going to be nearly 3 hours long I came prepared. At the end of the russian base and spy plane assault scenes, the movie was only at about 2 hours and Cipher had just ESCAPED capture to get away unharmed! WHAT! At this point I'm POSITIVE we're about to get a real final act that somehow hadn't been revealed at all in trailers and it was really just starting to get good. Maybe-baby-dom is back in safe hands and the team can finally unite with all the new members going after Cipher together. Cause we can't fucking end this movie like this can we? The big bad just GOT AWAY??? So there I am, hands poised to crack open one last beer and then BAM BAM BBQ! Wha-wha-whaaaaat?? Hits me like a ton of bricks that the show is over and this is the bizarro feel-weird ending we're getting spoon-fed. Shaw at the family BBQ and a whole lot of new, out-of-place faces around the entirely un-familiar BBQ local. Where the fuck are we? Why is Mr.Nobody here? NO SPOOKS AT THE DINNER TABLE!

 

Ugh. It was just so upsetting for a final scene.

 

Yeah at this point the team is LITERALLY the formation of what Owen Shaw did with his team in Fast 6 where the members were just pieces that could be removed and replaced at will, which DOM made a big speech about that being bullshit and family being what was best. Now that so many people have joined the team that were once rivals of the the team, the idea of family being best is effectively dead. I would honestly love a Hobbs/Shaw brothers film because the chemistry between those actors was by far the best part of the film. I get why CGI is being used because I have to assume that using practical effects would be a logistical nightmare along with what I assume the actors throwing their weight around more so that they aren't having to do these dangerous stunts as much. My other huge problem with this franchise is how much the trailers reveal about the final film, like the trailer for Fast 7 literally showing the final scene of the movie. For this film they show

Dom using his car to guide the heat seeker into the sub as well as Statham attacking Theron's jet, thus spoiling his "death" angle.

 

[IMAHUGEHDTGMFAN 1837]

But who the fuck is Scott Eastwood?

 

His acting suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuked in the first scene he was in, then it got a little better and reached bearable levels by the end of the movie...

 

 

I was laughing when he was having that "serious talk" with The Rock outside the prison and it seemed like the first take or maybe a dry run take that they taped and Kurt says to him that he "had to work on his delivery" and "get to know his audience" hahahahaha Great Meta moment even if it was unintentional ( Or maybe not )

 

 

[FisterRoboto 7499]

 

His acting suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuked in the first scene he was in, then it got a little better and reached bearable levels by the end of the movie...

 

 

I was laughing when he was having that "serious talk" with The Rock outside the prison and it seemed like the first take or maybe a dry run take that they taped and Kurt says to him that he "had to work on his delivery" and "get to know his audience" hahahahaha Great Meta moment even if it was unintentional ( Or maybe not )

 

 

 

 

Also, The Rock picking him up like he did is one of my favorite parts of the movie and was worth the things I didn't like about Eastwood (who I agree got better as the movie went on)

 

[RyanSz 3140]

It seemed like Scott was doing a parody of his dad in the first scene, right down to the facial expressions, but once he loosened up he was pretty good. What I desperately hope for is that there is a deleted scene where a janitor comes into the car warehouse and sees the broken glass from when Eastwood used the crowbar to open the key locker and just screams "why didn't they use the fucking handle?!"

[firsttimecallerlongtimelistenr 3590]

here are my issues .. when i think about it tomorrow these probably wont matter to me but they distracted me as the movie progressed ..

 

 

 

by turning the shaws into good guys we now have no bad family v good family. and any chance of actually seeing the rock and statham go at it again rather than just the mass brawl we got after all the talking, is gone. it was a great scene but the close up shaky cam took alot of the flow away. it just became bitty. it was almost like the fights in the transformers movies between the machines. up close and way too fast and shaky to make anything out.

 

also, what do they now do with the shaws? the scene on the plane with staham was a highlight for me but i dont want a smiley shaw. i want a mean, turn up at any moment, anywhere shaw or a crazy shaw like in 6

 

and enough with bringing actors in for a few hours and busting out a scene. mr nobody needs to either stick around or just go. and take jr with him. the scenes with kurt russel reminded me of the modern bruce willis films ... just turn up for a morning, film all your scenes and collect the money on the way out. i'd say he spent less time on this movie than on 7.

 

and you can't just leave the main villain just jump out of a plane and .. well nothing ... that was it. i know they're just setting up the next movie but it was a complete anti climax. and she wasn't even an interesting villain. hopefully she gets to do more in 9 or 10 and we see her go head to head with rodrigeuz, who i thought was really good in this.

 

and the music was wrong. or should i say the score. it was just a generic action flick score. where have all the massive beats and terrible music gone?

 

but in saying all that ... when it was good it was really good. and funny. they just need to strip it all back. get rid of all the tech talk and just blow everything up. and go back to practical effects. for the money they make on these things now they can afford to either do it for real or spend more on getting the CGI looking right.

 

 

 

i know i'm making it sound like i hated it and it was terrible. it's not. i'm just abit disappointed by it. it's alot better than some of the other stuff i've seen in the last year or 2. if the gang do cover this then it will be interesting to see how they saw it. and if my opinion will change over time. maybe they will wait till it's out on dvd again and i'll appreciate it more on a second viewing ...but for now i've gotta get to bed .. it's late

[RyanSz 3140]

here are my issues .. when i think about it tomorrow these probably wont matter to me but they distracted me as the movie progressed ..

 

 

 

by turning the shaws into good guys we now have no bad family v good family. and any chance of actually seeing the rock and statham go at it again rather than just the mass brawl we got after all the talking, is gone. it was a great scene but the close up shaky cam took alot of the flow away. it just became bitty. it was almost like the fights in the transformers movies between the machines. up close and way too fast and shaky to make anything out.

 

also, what do they now do with the shaws? the scene on the plane with staham was a highlight for me but i dont want a smiley shaw. i want a mean, turn up at any moment, anywhere shaw or a crazy shaw like in 6

 

and enough with bringing actors in for a few hours and busting out a scene. mr nobody needs to either stick around or just go. and take jr with him. the scenes with kurt russel reminded me of the modern bruce willis films ... just turn up for a morning, film all your scenes and collect the money on the way out. i'd say he spent less time on this movie than on 7.

 

and you can't just leave the main villain just jump out of a plane and .. well nothing ... that was it. i know they're just setting up the next movie but it was a complete anti climax. and she wasn't even an interesting villain. hopefully she gets to do more in 9 or 10 and we see her go head to head with rodrigeuz, who i thought was really good in this.

 

and the music was wrong. or should i say the score. it was just a generic action flick score. where have all the massive beats and terrible music gone?

 

but in saying all that ... when it was good it was really good. and funny. they just need to strip it all back. get rid of all the tech talk and just blow everything up. and go back to practical effects. for the money they make on these things now they can afford to either do it for real or spend more on getting the CGI looking right.

 

 

 

i know i'm making it sound like i hated it and it was terrible. it's not. i'm just abit disappointed by it. it's alot better than some of the other stuff i've seen in the last year or 2. if the gang do cover this then it will be interesting to see how they saw it. and if my opinion will change over time. maybe they will wait till it's out on dvd again and i'll appreciate it more on a second viewing ...but for now i've gotta get to bed .. it's late

In regards to the Shaw/Hobbs fight, I have to assume that the end credit scene that Vin Diesel had cut was going to be about that situation, though I'm sure there would have been a comedic tilt to it, maybe the Rock's soccer team against Shaw's. Also having seen their fantastic chemistry, I desperately hope that the Rock is in Expendables 4.

[FisterRoboto 7499]

In regards to the Shaw/Hobbs fight, I have to assume that the end credit scene that Vin Diesel had cut was going to be about that situation, though I'm sure there would have been a comedic tilt to it, maybe the Rock's soccer team against Shaw's. Also having seen their fantastic chemistry, I desperately hope that the Rock is in Expendables 4.

I just wanted them to kiss...almost as badly as they clearly wanted to kiss each other.

[RyanSz 3140]

I just wanted them to kiss...almost as badly as they clearly wanted to kiss each other.

Who would take the dominant role in that kiss? Holy shit, that's what starts the rivalry again as neither will submit in their kiss leading to a massive fist fight.

[IMAHUGEHDTGMFAN 1837]

I've said it in another post... For me the only thing that this movie did wrong was...

 

 

totally ignore that Jason Statham killed Han... Maybe he was redeemed when he saved Vin's baby but not enough to join the family's table by the end of the movie IMHO

 

[RyanSz 3140]

I've said it in another post... For me the only thing that this movie did wrong was...

 

 

totally ignore that Jason Statham killed Han... Maybe he was redeemed when he saved Vin's baby but not enough to join the family's table by the end of the movie IMHO

 

EXACTLY, what good is mentioning family 4 dozen times in the last film if that all gets wiped away with a single BBQ?

 

Though with how much of a diva Diesel has become, I would not be surprised that he pushes for the sequel to reveal

that Hellen Mirren was working with Cipher all along and still blames the crew for her sons getting arrested, so she pushed Cipher into recruiting Dom figuring that he would eventually come to her in the hopes of getting her sons out of jail to help him in his plot to stop Cipher. That way Dom remains the uber-hero and the Shaws are back to being villains.

 

[FisterRoboto 7499]

I think it's supposed to be

that Shaw redeemed himself for taking a member of the family by saving another. But it's moved past pretty quickly, and honestly, the fact they were drinking Budweiser instead of Corona is far more upsetting

.

[RyanSz 3140]

I think it's supposed to be

that Shaw redeemed himself for taking a member of the family by saving another. But it's moved past pretty quickly, and honestly, the fact they were drinking Budweiser instead of Corona is far more upsetting

.

I actually read a decent theory on why there were Buds but no Coronas in the film.

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2017/04/furious-8-vin-diesel-corona-the-fate-of-the-furious

[EllenM2.0 412]

I legit gasped when

 

Owen Shaw came back. I was like, Fuck yes!

 

 

I liked the whole retcon of Fast 6 and 7. I can't wait for June to try and figure it out.

 

I thought I heard a rumour somewhere that they were open to bringing back Han in FF9, so maybe that will really even out the scales. Don't know how they'll do it but I'm ready and waiting.

[FisterRoboto 7499]

I legit gasped when

 

Owen Shaw came back. I was like, Fuck yes!

 

 

I liked the whole retcon of Fast 6 and 7. I can't wait for June to try and figure it out.

 

I thought I heard a rumour somewhere that they were open to bringing back Han in FF9, so maybe that will really even out the scales. Don't know how they'll do it but I'm ready and waiting.

 

They brought Letty back, and she "died" in basically the same way.