The Fate of the Furious (2017)

[Morrigan2575]

I swear if I didn't know any better, I'd think Vin Diesel was exiting (being pushed out of) the franchise. All of the latest promos seem to center on The Rock and Stratham. 

[Cobalt Stargazer]

According to IMDB, Evans will be reprising his role as Owen Shaw, which must mean

that Deckard's brother is out of his coma or whatever and back on the scene. I'm wondering how much of a role he'll be playing, what with both big brother and Mom being involved.

6 hours ago, Dee said:

Has there been any news of Luke Evans status with the series?

According to IMDB, Evans will be reprising his role as Owen Shaw, which must mean

that Deckard's brother is out of his coma or whatever and back on the scene. I'm wondering how much of a role he'll be playing, what with both big brother and Mom being involved.

[dusang]

Some nerdy fun: https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2017-fast-and-furious/

[TheOtherOne]

Interesting story from Vulture about how the feud between Diesel and the Rock seems to have affected the movie and is apparent onscreen.

[thuganomics85]

So, in other words, years from now, there is go going to be a Feud: Dwayne vs. Vin coming to FX!

I'm mainly indifferent to this "beef", since it seems so hilariously petty and not enough to make me dislike either of them (although, I'm admittedly a bigger fan of Dwayne, so the fanboy in me is on his side), but I find it noticeable that despite appearing in three other films before this, it happens in the first post-Paul Walker film.  I kind of wonder if Paul had been sort of a calming force on set, and with him sadly gone, the guys with the bigger egos are getting a bit out of control.  I really want to wonder what the rest of the cast is thinking of all of this.

Edited April 14, 2017 by thuganomics85

[ribboninthesky1]

On 4/10/2017 at 7:57 PM, Morrigan2575 said:

I swear if I didn't know any better, I'd think Vin Diesel was exiting (being pushed out of) the franchise. All of the latest promos seem to center on The Rock and Stratham. 

I've only seen the trailers, which center on Vin, but gotta be honest: if this is true, I wouldn't miss him at all. 

[SeanC]

That was fun overall.  I'll spoiler my other thoughts for the moment:

Spoiler

 

After Dom and Letty's conversation about having children, the second we saw that Elena had given birth to Dom's child I knew she was a goner, thus enabling the series' lead couple to acquire a child without a pregnancy. Though think about what we missed -- they could have had Letty give birth mid-car case, while driving!

The whole sequence of Deckard with baby Brian is especially funny when you remember that Jason Statham is about to become a father himself.

 

[Jediknight]

That was a heck of a lot of fun.  Not as good as Fast Five, but I'd probably rank it second.

Little Nobody was a good addition.  Eastwood and Tyrese played well off of each other.  He's not going to be able to replace Brian, but I wouldn't say no to him returning.

Spoiler

And please for all that is good, give us a Shaws spinoff.  Have them hunt down Cipher.

[johntfs]

On 12/13/2016 at 10:04 AM, Bruinsfan said:

Tyrese by himself is almost enough to guarantee me watching, but Helen Mirren is a lock. I'd pay to watch her stand in a DMV line.

If we're talking crossovers, I want Helen Mirren to be in this movie as her character from the Red movies.

 

Edited April 14, 2017 by johntfs

[AimingforYoko]

I looooved the Shaws. That scene where Mama Shaw starts crying, then Deckard starts tearing up, only for Mama to reveal it was an act was gold.

[jewel21]

It was okay and had some amusing parts but something was lacking and I think it was Paul Walker. I really missed his presence and the movie just wasn't the same without him.

[Artsda]

I really enjoyed it More than I thought it would.

The action scene in NYC with the cars going rogue was pretty well done. 

I did notice half way through the movie that The Rock and Vin had yet to actually share a scene. It was noticeable, especially since The Rock said how his blood was boiling in his fighting scenes and it wasn't acting.  So I was waiting for them to fight, but it never happened. All Rock's fighting scenes were mostly with Jason.   There is that last last scene at the end but the shot with everyone at the table could have been done with a double since Dom and Hobbs don't speak at the get together either. 

With Hobbs not taking his badge back and choosing his daughter, I guess that's The Rock's exit for him not return anymore.  

I knew to make Dom go rogue someone had to have been kidnapped. I was expecting Brian and Mia though, so nice twist to have it be 1 old and 1 new person I didn't expect it to be. Also giving the franchise a new "Brian". It was sweet and a great way to honor Paul. 

Scott Eastwood was a good fit, he did well fitting in with the crew at the end and he was funny with his green agent stuff at the start. 

I guess Elsa is gone for good, I was thinking this was going to be an interesting triangle for future movies but they went and got rid of that angle pretty fast.Jason and the baby was so great. Loved their plane scenes together. 

[thuganomics85]

Just got back from seeing it and while it (and the franchise) is still better then it has any right to be, I did feel like it was a step down from the past three films (with Fast Five still the best, IMO.)

My biggest issues where, first, the run time.  I'm all for trying to be more then just a mindless action film and try to develop your characters, but no Fast and the Furious film should be 2 hours and 20 minutes.  It's bad enough that the Transformers series keeps getting longer and this franchise doesn't need to do it either.  Do they think they're the Lord of the Rings trilogy or something?

Second, while Deckard Shaw was amusing addition to the team and Jason Statham was a blast to watch (the gunfight while holding a baby!), the team was way too forgiving of him.  I can't believe he was sitting at the big "family" dinner.  He wasn't some mere bad guy.  This is the same guy who freaking killed Han and almost blew Brian and his son to smithereens.  Are they retconning that entire thing or do they just not care?

Finally, (spoilers, I guess), the motivation behind Dom's betrayal was dumb, and I really hate that they only brought Elena back to kill her off.  Granted, it's probably just me, but I always felt she and Elsa Pataky had more potential then she was given, but it's like they didn't know what to do with her, once Letty came back into Dom's life.  And I really, really didn't like that they didn't even show Hobbs' reaction to her death.  They were partners and, hell, the reason Hobbs was injured in the last film was to save her from that explosion.  Really felt like he should have been given a scene to find out (even if that would have made this film even longer...)

Still, it was fun seeing the characters again and the action was fun.  The whole hacked car scene was so silly, but I loved every minute of it.  F. Gary Gray did a good job with the chase scenes, although the fights relied to much on the shaky cam.  Still think Justin Lin is (and will likely be) the best director of the franchise.

At this point, Luke Hobbs really should just change his last name to Cage.  He really isn't human.  At this point, he could leap off a skyscraper, benchpress a tank, or use as helicopter as a baseball bat, and I wouldn't blink an eye.

Little Nobody was probably the only time I ever remembered a Scott Eastwood character, even though it felt like part of the reason he was there was because Kurt Russell only had limited days to shoot.

The Owen Shaw appearance was fun.  And Helen Mirren as Mama Shaw!  I can't wait to see more of her!

Charlize Theron was the highlight and made Cipher the best antagonist yet (err, with respect to Deckard.)  Glad she survived, so I can't wait for Round 2 (and hopefully she'll get to drive this time and go Furiosa on somebody's ass!)  Tormund from Game of Thrones was fun as her henchmen.

Roman and Tej were amusing as always.  I did like that Ramsey had a decent amount to do, due to competing against a fellow (better?) hacker with Cipher.

Noticed that this seem to be the film with the least amount of gratuitous shots of women after they got out of Havana.  I guess it would have been hard to put scantly claded women in snowy Russia (although, if any franchise would try...) 

Overall, not the best, but I still had fun.  I am giving it some leeway because I do think there was some scrambling due to Paul Walker's death and Brian being out of the picture.  I'm more curious about Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson's feud going forward.  It really was noticeable that they didn't share many scenes together.  They either are going to settle this or someone might have to go, and I don't know how that will play out.  Dwayne is clearly the more bankable star (sorry, Vin!), but if anything, he might be willing to bail to continuing doing other projects.  Meanwhile, Vin only has Guardians of the Galaxy and maybe the Xander Cage series?  Internationally, since it bombed domestically.  

Edited April 16, 2017 by thuganomics85

[Dee]

Insiders: Vin Diesel Killed a ‘Fate of the Furious’ Scene With The Rock and Jason Statham

[johntfs]

12 hours ago, jewel21 said:

It was okay and had some amusing parts but something was lacking and I think it was Paul Walker. I really missed his presence and the movie just wasn't the same without him.

Paul Walker was willing to be the calmer, "beta" persona to Vin Deisel's alpha.  Dwayne Johnson likely was not.  Presumably the idea was to showcase how similar Hobbs and Toretto in their devotion to their ideals and their team/family and how grudging respect grew into true friendship.  Unfortunately Johnson and Deisel are probably also pretty similar personalities which causes trouble since each wants to be top dog.

[mojoween]

Huh.  I haaaaaaated it.

The loss of Paul should have been the end of the franchise, to me, because as I was watching I realized that without him, I wasn't as interested.

And two throwaway lines about where he was did a real disservice to his memory.  He shouldn't just be...somewhere...hiding with Mia.  His absence when they were gathering the team, and he wasn't mentioned, made it a huge elephant in the room and took my focus away from what was going on.

Also I realized that I guess I just don't like Charlize Theron because I could not stand her character or how she was playing her.  It really was the Queen from Snow White in modern times.

I hated they gave Elena a baby and made it Dom's.  It adds nothing to the series except get a cute baby (who I wish they would have had twins play him, because it was obvious he wasn't the same baby in certain scenes) who made Jason Statham more awesome than he already was.

But yeah accepting Deckard into the "family" is ridiculous because the Shaw brothers are also responsible for Gisele's death, are they not?

I did like Dwayne and Jason playing off each other, their chemistry was magical.  I was bummed that we stayed all through the credits and got nothing, I knew Vin had killed the extra scene but thought it would have been replaced with something else.

It seemed to me that they changed what the series always was and turned it into a generic action movie, even more so than the last three installments.

If I were ranking it I would put it in seventh place, just above 2 Fast and that's only because for some reason that is the only one I have never seen all the way through.  And yes that does mean I rank F8 below Tokyo Drift.

The gratuitous race scene in this one didn't feel organic but the "villain" in it made a nice foil and I like how he was used again.  Also loved the cameo between the two (Brazilian? I can't remember) brothers who were in the ambulance scene.

I was so excited to see this and came away so disappointed.  I guess I loved Paul Walker more than I thought.

All of these articles I've read have marveled at how successful 7 was and how it showed that people were ready for more bombast, but what I don't see is anyone speculating that 7 was so successful because people wanted to say good-bye to Paul and wanted to see how his absence was handled.

 

And at the end, at the barbecue?  The table was full of soft drinks, not a Corona in sight.

Edited April 15, 2017 by mojoween

[Artsda]

3 hours ago, mojoween said:

But yeah accepting Deckard into the "family" is ridiculous because the Shaw brothers are also responsible for Gisele's death, are they not?

Yes, and Han. Which annoyed me more, because he killed Han as a point to make to Dom.  

Spoiler

After reading that spin piece the screenwriter put out. I'm now wondering if they'll rewrite it all with Han being alive somewhere. 

[Silver Raven]

20 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

Just got back from seeing it and while it (and the franchise) is still better then it has any right to be, I did feel like it was a step down from the past three films (with Fast Five still the best, IMO.)

Entertainment Weekly ranked all of the movies in the franchise, and the rankings were number for number the same as the order they came out.

It's amazing comparing Scott Eastwood in this to his character in Suicide Squad.  Big difference.

I was blown away by the number of cars they wrecked in the New York scenes.  It must have been a record.

I kept thinking throughout that as much as this franchise talks about "family", the characters don't give a shit about the families of any of the innocent bystanders they mow down and blow up along the way.

Still, it's a rush.

 

I read an interview with somebody, can't remember who, who said this was the first of the finale trilogy.

Edited April 15, 2017 by Silver Raven

[benteen]

I thought it was a lot of fun and very much enjoyed it.  Jason Statham was definitely the scene-stealer and the best thing in.  It's insane though that his character is accepted by the group.

[Morrigan2575]

1 hour ago, Silver Raven said:

Entertainment Weekly ranked all of the movies in the franchise, and the rankings were number for number the same as the order they came out.

 

Wow, that doesn't come close to my rankings.

5, 6, 1, 4 (would have been higher if they didn't kill Letty or brought her back at the end as originally planned) 7, 2 ,3

I haven't watched 8 yet.

[ennui]

On 12/12/2016 at 6:01 PM, Raja said:

cross over. Sort of like Aliens and Predator

If they bring the series up to 13, they can add Jason.

I've only seen two films in this franchise, the first and maybe the seventh? Not sure. But for me, it felt like a James Bond film, no idea what the plot was, just lots of car chases. I know I'm seeing F8, so I hope I'm not completely lost.

I know already that this movie is a great Dodge commercial. People are calling for the Demon.

Edited April 16, 2017 by ennui

[SeanC]

If they're talking about a spinoff with the Rock and Statham, that might be for the best, because the Family is getting pretty cumbersome at this point.  Going into this movie they have Dom, Letty, Hobbs, Tej, Roman, and Ramsey (the last of these frequently feels kind of redundant alongside Tej, but I get why they want the team to have more than one woman), and this movie seems to introduce two more prospective new members (Deckard Shaw, Scott Eastwood's character).  Eastwood's character, incidentally, also shares the bulk of his scenes with Kurt Russell, who is doing basically the same role, but better.

[Traveller519]

When you're too bland to play the bland white boy character replacing freaking Paul Walker, you're pretty damn bland. "Rule Number three *smash... there are no rules" *thud *crickets

Scott Eastwood aside, it was the standard fun fare we've come to expect from the series. As predictable as the motivational speech at the beginning of the movie was, the soccer mom's payoff was worth it. Tyrese is dumb as hell, but Roman's interactions still make me laugh, and Michelle Rodriguez carried a lot more weight than normal, which was nice.

Oh how I wish Mother Shaw had been one of the two arial assault Shaws. I thought they treated her character well.

I'm really glad they acknowledged the God's Eye (Satan's Bunghole). I was thinking, "don't you guys have that?" right before Romance mentioned it. As crazy as this universe is, they at least are willing to play by the rules they've created.

[Artsda]

Edited April 16, 2017 by Artsda

[Silver Raven]

I had to laugh because, despite the fact that they milked some humor out of Roman not being able to read the Russian instructions in the control station, the computer keyboard was in Latin alphabet.

[Dee]

Record breaking initial success aside, Fast 8 seems really front loaded.

Fast 7 eventually reached $1.5 billion, I dunno if F8 will have those same kind of legs. 

[AimingforYoko]

1 hour ago, Dee said:

Fast 7 eventually reached $1.5 billion, I dunno if F8 will have those same kind of legs. 

Exactly six films in the history of cinema have grossed $1.5 billion. The only film being released this year that will reach that contains the words Star Wars. I think Universal can live with a measly billion. 

[theredhead77]

I floved it. It was exactly what I expected from a F&tF franchise. I already think Vin Diesel and The Rock are sexy sexy in these movies but damn, them with kids? Be still my ovaries!

Go Dragons!

[Raja]

On 4/15/2017 at 3:43 PM, benteen said:

I thought it was a lot of fun and very much enjoyed it.  Jason Statham was definitely the scene-stealer and the best thing in.  It's insane though that his character is accepted by the group.

Daddy Don accepted him because he did the exact same thing, only for a son he never knew instead of a brother. Mr Nobody gave the team the offer they could not refuse. At the end the group went along with daddy. Of course once she was identified as Mama Shaw I was wanting for Shaw's surprise ambush.

[Artsda]

So apparently they reunited and made up.

The Rock Will Do Next 'Fast and the Furious' Movie, Beef with Vin Diesel Squashed

http://www.tmz.com/2017/04/18/the-rock-fast-and-furious-vin-diesel-fued/

[Dejana]

9 hours ago, Artsda said:

So apparently they reunited and made up.

The Rock Will Do Next 'Fast and the Furious' Movie, Beef with Vin Diesel Squashed

http://www.tmz.com/2017/04/18/the-rock-fast-and-furious-vin-diesel-fued/

Or the bonus checks cleared... We'll see in F9 if they really made up or if he and Vin continue not to share screentime Good Wife-style.

[Raja]

I am trying to figure out how Dom got his Latino crew to New York in order to provide the cover for his meeting with Mama

[johntfs]

7 minutes ago, Raja said:

I am trying to figure out how Dom got his Latino crew to New York in order to provide the cover for his meeting with Mama

He got Luke Evans to fly them there with vampire magic.  The title of the next movie will be The Fanged and the Furious because why not?

[SeanC]

According to Deadline, Universal is moving forward with the idea of a spinoff focusing on the Rock and Jason Statham.

[johntfs]

6 hours ago, SeanC said:

According to Deadline, Universal is moving forward with the idea of a spinoff focusing on the Rock and Jason Statham.

I admit I kind of like that better than the idea that Deckard Shaw joins "the family."  Deckard Shaw murdered Han, who was one of the family.  His brother, Owen set the plot in motion that caused the death of Han's lover, Gisele.  Dom tolerating Deckard's presence at the end get-together because he saved baby Brian, I can accept.  Dom fully accepting Deckard into the family seems like a stretch.  On the other hand, Deckard and Hobbs badassing their through some situation makes much more sense because they don't really have a serious beef with each other aside from ego.

Edited April 22, 2017 by johntfs

[Bruinsfan]

Yeah, most of the tension between them is just machismo, everyone in the Toretto crew has good reason to hate both Shaw brothers and never, ever trust them in any situation. I don't care how many scenes Statham spends mugging with a cute baby, I'll never accept him as a member in good standing of the Fast & Furious team. But a capable bastard working with Hobbs to stay out of prison, that I can buy.

[Dee]

How does that arrangement work with Hobbs, who is a fairly prominent member of Dom's family, though? 

[johntfs]

2 hours ago, Dee said:

How does that arrangement work with Hobbs, who is a fairly prominent member of Dom's family, though? 

Yeah, but Hobbs is a bit of a latecomer.  In Fast Five he went from enemy to reluctant ally.  In FF6 he became an employer and ultimately confirmed friend and it was really only in FF7 that Dom met Hobbs' daughter and Hobbs really became part of the group.  While Hobbs had certainly met Han and Gisele, it wasn't like there were any tight bonds formed with them, so Hobbs takes their deaths less personally.

And after all, it's not like Dom sees the Shaws as current enemies.  There's clearly plenty of common ground in enemies with Cipher.  Can Dom work with the Shaws?  Sure.  He did in this movie.  Will Dom mind if Hobbs works with the Shaws?  Probably not.  Hell, I imagine Dom understands and respects the Shaws' family bond, but that doesn't mean he should put them in the same category as Letty, Roman or Hobbs.

[Glory]

I mean, Scott Eastwood is awfully pretty, though. 

That's pretty much it. 

When they put him in the blue car (all shades of Brian) I was pretty pissed but his "Aw, shit" as all the scaffolding fell on him kind of got me on board. I liked it.

Statham's fight with the baby was all kinds of amazing. JUST FANTASTIC coreo and every beat was on point. "You were going to shoot a baby?!" 

I thought Michelle Rodriguez did a great job, but I think she could have stepped up a bit more in Dom's absence. I'd have liked to have seen her leading the team a bit more than Hobbs. That's more the writing though, than anything she had. She looked absolutely otherworldly in the honeymoon Cuba scenes. Just gorgeous. 

[Artsda]

‘Fate Of The Furious’ Fires Up $745M Offshore, $908M WW; Tops ‘Transformers’ In China – International Box Office

http://deadline.com/2017/04/fate-of-the-furious-8-beauty-beast-weekend-china-international-box-office-1202075671/

[Bruinsfan]

2 hours ago, Glory said:

Statham's fight with the baby was all kinds of amazing. JUST FANTASTIC coreo and every beat was on point. "You were going to shoot a baby?!"

Didn't Deckard just firebomb a house that usually had a baby and a toddler in it last installment? It was pure luck they were safely tucked away in the minivan Brian got plastered against by the explosion. Sorry screenwriters, you may have amnesia, but I don't!

[Morrigan2575]

1 hour ago, Bruinsfan said:

Didn't Deckard just firebomb a house that usually had a baby and a toddler in it last installment? It was pure luck they were safely tucked away in the minivan Brian got plastered against by the explosion. Sorry screenwriters, you may have amnesia, but I don't!

Been awhile and, I didn't really like the movie very much bit, i thought he sent the box to Dom's house,  not Brian and Mia's?

[ennui]

On 4/15/2017 at 6:43 AM, mojoween said:

Spoiler

The table was full of soft drinks, not a Corona in sight.

 

Spoiler

I saw Budweisers. I guess Corona didn't fork over enough money for sponsorship.

Saw the film last night. Some amusing moments, but meh. Vin Diesel has three expressions in his repertoire. Michelle Rodriguez has had some work done, she's looking prettier. All of the film's budget went to stunts; they should spend a little on dialogue.

All in all ... the baby was cute. And since there's now a son and a daughter, we can look forward to decades of this franchise. "Son of Fast," etc., assuming people still drive cars 20 years from now.

Edited April 25, 2017 by ennui

[Raja]

On 4/24/2017 at 5:39 AM, Glory said:

 

Statham's fight with the baby was all kinds of amazing. JUST FANTASTIC coreo and every beat was on point. "You were going to shoot a baby?!" 

I thought Michelle Rodriguez did a great job, but I think she could have stepped up a bit more in Dom's absence. I'd have liked to have seen her leading the team a bit more than Hobbs. That's more the writing though, than anything she had. She looked absolutely otherworldly in the honeymoon Cuba scenes. Just gorgeous. 

The baby fight was from Hard Boiled. I wouldn't mind seeing Chow Yun-Fat again, maybe as a counterpart to Mr Nobody, as opposed to the next villain. The strange thing is that most of the team, if you count Hobbs as an  grey operations employer, is more linked to Brian than to Dom. There is the Latino crew, which I have to conclude that Dom was always in touch with the black operations employer, Mr Nobody and he set up the meet with Deckard's mom, followed by the fake death.  Letty is more in the getting to know her situation, not a First Lady leader one.

[Chaos Theory]

On 4/15/2017 at 8:45 AM, johntfs said:

Paul Walker was willing to be the calmer, "beta" persona to Vin Deisel's alpha.  Dwayne Johnson likely was not.  Presumably the idea was to showcase how similar Hobbs and Toretto in their devotion to their ideals and their team/family and how grudging respect grew into true friendship.  Unfortunately Johnson and Deisel are probably also pretty similar personalities which causes trouble since each wants to be top dog.

In 8 which I thoughly enjoyed the hacker girl the group (minus the rock) rescued described the group perfectly.  It was simplistic yes but it was also spot on.  Deisel is the Alpha and although Paul Walker character has had military/police training he was perfectly fine being second on command.  I am guessing that is how it worked on set as well.  Without Walker as a buffer I am guessing Deiseland Rock are chafing about star (alpha) status.

Edited April 25, 2017 by Chaos Theory

[Artsda]

On 4/24/2017 at 1:14 PM, Morrigan2575 said:

Been awhile and, I didn't really like the movie very much bit, i thought he sent the box to Dom's house,  not Brian and Mia's?

Didn't they all live there?

[Raja]

19 minutes ago, Artsda said:

Didn't they all live there?

Well Dom and Mia did, by the time Brian joined the family they were on the run going to Brazil. I always supposed the rest of the team from The fast and The Furious had somewhere else to sleep. By Fast 7 they were just returning when it was blown up, I guess the parents paid that house off and Mia didn't sell it for legal fees if Dom pleaded guilty in Fast and Furious 4.

I don't think there is a franchise thread but  Leon hasn't made a return to the series, Jesse was killed and Vince got out of jail and went to Brazil. There is another family member out there.

[ennui]

On 4/24/2017 at 5:39 AM, Glory said:

I mean, Scott Eastwood is awfully pretty, though.

I'm always struck by how much he looks like his father. 

[Bruinsfan]

I'd thought that Mia and Brian lived there too once they got cleared to return to the US at the end of 6, but maybe they were just visiting?

Of course Deckard also killed/assaulted an entire hospital wing full of people that he wanted to take good care of his brother, so I'm still going with the assumption that he's psychotic and unstable even if he did take good care of a baby this installment.

[healthnut]

Saw it today. I thought it was a cartoon. SO over the top, complete with slow-mo and The Rock being even more Hercules than last movie. And too long. Charlize was good but I hated her hair, it was so distracting. I did like the rookie and Roman and Ludacris but I could've done without this installment.