The Fate of the Furious or Fast 8 or The Fast and the Furious 8 or whatever you want to call it has hit cinemas in Ireland with a bang.  Expectations for this one are high.  Not surprising since Furious 7 made about a billion at the box office.  Yes a billion.  It was also the last we got to see of Paul Walker who passed away.  I know I wasn’t the only one who shed a little tear at the end of Furious 7 when everyone wore white (like a Backstreet Boys video) and See You Again played.

So here’s the thing.  This franchise is never going to win any Oscars and the scripts are not literary masterpieces.  That said, now on the eight film they are hugely successful and enjoyable as action movies. Sure the original story line may have been ripped from Point Break but lets just say nothing about it.

The eight instalment reunites much of the cast from the last movie, Vin Diesel, Jason Statham, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriquez, Tyrese Gibson, Ludcris, Kurt Russell and Luke Evans.  It also introduces Scott Eastwood and Charlize Theron to the cast, while Paul Walker as mentioned is no longer.

….its high on action, speed, twists and turns…

Dom and Letty are on honeymoon in Cuba and having had all charges dropped for previous ‘incidents’, the rest of the crew are scattered around the globe doing their thing.  The honeymoon period doesn’t last long however as Cipher (Charlize Theron) tracks down Dom and ultimately coerces (I wont’ tell you why) him into turning on his family and stealing some take over the world items like nuclear codes. F. Gary Gray (Straight Outta Compton) is directing this instalment and its high on action, speed, twists and turns.

The action scenes are of course ridiculously far-fetched, over the top and completely unbelievable but they are fun and entertaining.  Take note of the cars driving by themselves when you watch it.  There is plenty of comedy moments between Deckard (Jason Statham) and Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and watch out for a fun performance from Helen Mirren as Deckard’s mother.

Charlize Theron as Cipher turns in a great performance as the villain and Scott Eastwood as Little Nobody adds some man candy, comedy relief and is an overall welcome addition to the franchise.  At times there is so much going on in the movie that you kind of forget what the story line is about.  It doesn’t’ really matter though. I did however roll my eyes a little bit when we got to the submarine part.  A stretch too far perhaps?  Nevertheless The Fate of the Furious is two hours of action packed adventure and there is nothing wrong with that.  There are enough twists and turns to keep you engaged and you will certainly feel you got your moneys worth on the way out.  In its category of movies I’d give it 4/5.

Check out the trailer below for a glimpse of what to expect.