First Hit: With improbable situations, circumstances and action, it was funny enough to make me stay till the end. There is very little about this film that is remotely believable. I won’t mention them here but when you watch it, you’ll know what I mean.
Somehow in the saga of these Furious films, Dom (Vin Diesel) grew close to someone which created a situation where the result has him go against his "family." Anyone who’s seen these series of films, Dom makes “family” the main thing that no one goes against. So, for Dom to go against his family, the situation must be a big deal.
Introducing him to this situation is Cipher (Charlize Theron) whose role is to be the smartest person on the planet, wants to control the world by living on a plane using high tech tools and have the ability to take control of any computer on the planet. By doing so she plans to use Dom to carry out some of her physical missions and she has just the motivation to make him turn away from family.
The government intelligence agency headed by Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell) and his new underling Little Nobody (Scott Eastwood) want to find out why Dom stole a concussion device. To do this they pull the rest of the family together and add Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and Deckard (Jason Statham) to the mix and spare no expense in wrecking expensive cars, tanks, and guns to find Dom, and why he betrayed “family”.
One of the funniest themes through the film was why Tej (Chris “Ludicris” Bridges) was only ranked 11th on the most wanted list. He throws a fit about this throughout the film.
With no expense held back on making a film that blows up a whole bunch of stuff, wrecking a fleet full of cars, has a submarine chasing cars, and kills a pile of people, F. Gary Gray took Chris Morgan’s script and made it fun.
Diesel was good. I’m not much of a fan of his character because it is always the same one no matter the film. Theron makes a very good bad girl. She pulled this off and was believable (or as believable as one could make this part) enough to not have me cringe. Russell is great. I loved his popping in and out of the film bringing lightheartedness and smarts. Eastwood is fun as the new agent learning the ropes. Johnson is, well, Johnson. His brutishness and size, especially when he’s walking through the prison in the orange jumpsuit, says it all. He can be intimidating. Statham, although not the size of either Diesel or Johnson, has a look and swagger that makes him an equal of the other two in perceived strength. Bridges is really fun and whether he’s unhappy at being 11th or in the cold weather, he makes everyone smile. Michelle Rodriguez as Letty is carrying on the role she created in the earlier films. She does tough/soft well. Tyrese Gibson as Roman does a great job of being the guy who thinks things through for the team. Nathalie Emmanuel as Ramsey is a perfect complement to Gibson’s "Roman" as part of the team’s brain trust. Morgan’s script was haphazard, had holes in it, and didn’t tie together well but it was fun. Gray must have had fun directing this crew given the script he had.
Overall: Do not expect this film to make much sense, but it is funny enough, and has enough fun chases to keep you in your seat.