The Fate of the Furious Review

The premise is the best hook the franchise has had since the vault. Turning Dominic against his own crew should reframe every speech about family the series has been making for sixteen years. The film cannot hold it. Within a reel it has explained his motive with a hostage, which converts a genuine betrayal into an obligation, and from there the crew simply chases him while making jokes. Charlize Theron is wasted as Cipher, an evil hacker delivering exposition from an aircraft, a character defined entirely by knowing things in advance.

What is left is set piece engineering, and some of it is fun. The remote-controlled cars pouring through Manhattan is a good idea about scale, and the submarine on the ice is at least distinctive. Gray keeps things moving and the Statham and Johnson banter is the most alive the dialogue gets, mostly because both actors are visibly ad libbing past it. The prison riot is loud and shot far too close. It is professional spectacle with a great idea buried under it, and the series never picks that idea up again.