The Fate of the Furious Divides Critics: Early Reviews Roundup
The early batch of reviews are mixed with some critics calling The Fate of the Furious a “dazzling action spectacle” while others referring to it as “the worst of these films since 2 Fast 2 Furious”. The sequel will make loads of money at the box office either way.
Come Friday and The Fate of the Furious will be hitting theaters in North America along with a large number of global markets. The 8th installment in the highly-successful Fast & Furious franchise will see Vin Diesel’s Dominic Toretto turn his back on the family that he has always held dear.
The first set of reviews have started coming in ahead of the worldwide release and it seems that Fast and Furious 8 isn’t the recipient of universal acclaim as Fast Five and Furious 7. While most of the reviews are highly positive and present the latest sequel as a worthy successor to its predecessor, a couple of reviewers have been brutal with their words.
Here’s a quick look at the good, the bad and the ugly.
IGN
"The Fate of the Furious provides plenty of the high-octane escapism and ridiculously elaborate vehicular mayhem fans of the series expect, while also laying the groundwork for a new phase in the franchise."
Variety
"The eighth ‘Fast and the Furious’ film, with Charlize Theron as a supervillain who puts Vin Diesel under her thumb, is a dazzling action spectacle that proves this franchise is far from out of gas."
Entertainment Weekly
"The movie ends with more than one literal bang, but the series’ fate is hardly sealed; it’s merely to be continued: There are two more sequels due by 2021."
Empire
"This is no longer a down-and-dirty series about loveable carjacking criminals; it’s a globetrotting, scenery-smashing, logic-jacking extravaganza. Fast 8 is more of the same, more or less, with the emphasis heavily on more."
And here are the reviews which didn’t find Fast 8 to be up to expectations, with IndieWire’s critic panning the new entrant as the worst one in the entire franchise.
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Forbes
"The film is the first one in over a decade to feel narratively unnecessary. The weird continuity, which put Tokyo Drift way into the future, gave the next three films something of a goal and an end. But with the current continuity wrapped up, and many core characters killed off or written out, this eighth film can’t shake the feeling that it only exists because the last film made $1.5 billion worldwide. The whole thing has a “going through the motions” feeling hurts a movie that lacks the sizzle and pop of the prior three films."
IndieWire
"“F8” is the worst of these films since “2 Fast 2 Furious,” and it may be even worse than that. It’s the “Die Another Day” of its franchise — an empty, generic shell of its former self that disrespects its own proud heritage at every turn. How did the great F. Gary Gray, whose surprisingly strong remake of “The Italian Job” displayed a tremendous flair for comedic vehicular mayhem, waste the biggest budget of his career on such boring smash-ups? How did Diesel and co. manage to learn all of the wrong lessons from the last two movies, delivering an episode where everything feels so fake that even the “family” matters seem forced?"
In movie review aggregation sites, The Fate of the Furious is tracking in the same range as the 5th, 6th and 7th installments. It has a higher rating compared to Fast & Furious 6 on both Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic too.
Eventually it’s about what the fans of the franchise want and like. The recent crop of Fast & Furious movies, starting with Fast Five have been favorites with both critics and global audiences. Even if a couple of critics may not see it as on par with what came before it, the rest of the reviewers have given it a huge thumbs-up.
Next: The Fate of the Furious-Castrol Cross Promo Video
Directed by F. Gary Gray and starring Vin Diesel, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Charlize Theron, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Kurt Russell, Helen Mirren, Scott Eastwood and Jason Statham, The Fate of the Furious will release worldwide on April 14, 2017.