It is called The Fate of the Furious — the eighth instalment of the Fast and Furious franchise, which started in 2001 when the millennium was shiny and new. Set in the world of street-car racing, The Fast and the Furious takes place in Los Angeles, with Paul Walker as an undercover cop on the trail of Dominic Toretto, a racer who is suspected of hijacking moving trucks. The violently-colourful cars, the gob-smacking stunts, the dazzling fashion, and bald, tattooed Vin Diesel, growling with soft puppy eyes, offered the ultimate adrenaline-charged ride. By the time one came out of the theatre after the movie, the parking lot was empty, with most of the audience trying to make quick getaways like Dom and his crew.
2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) directed by John Singleton didn’t go anywhere; Diesel’s absence was felt rather acutely. There is a drug lord who needs to be brought down, and Walker’s O’Conner is again undercover with his ex-con friend Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson), helping a Customs’ agent Monica, played by Eva Mendes.
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift in 2006 is chronologically the third movie in the series, but is supposed to take place between the sixth and seventh films — never mind. The film, directed by Justin Lin, is set in Los Angeles and Tokyo, and deals with drift racing. Without Walker and a cameo from Diesel, Tokyo Drift had the stunts, races, the cars and the girls, but was running on empty as far as the plot went.
Back together
The gang is back for Fast & Furious (2009) — why bother with a new name when you can just drop the articles? Dom and his crew are hijacking fuel tankers (awesome opening sequence), while O’Conner is on the lookout for some druggie low life. There is a car race to decide who will drive the heroin across the border (whee!). Michelle Rodríguez as Letty, Dom’s girlfriend and Jordana Brewster as Mia, Dom’s sister and Brian’s girlfriend don’t just provide eye candy. Letty is a mechanic who drives a mean Plymouth. Incidentally, Dom drives a Buick while O’Conner drives a Subaru Impreza and Mia a Honda NSX-R.
Fast Five (2011) sees a shift from the street-car racing theme to a heist, and introduces the impossibly-muscled Dwayne Johnson as DSS agent Luke Hobbs. Starting from busting Dom from the prison bus to the hijacking of cars from a train, there are thrills aplenty. Set in Rio de Janeiro, Fast Five ends with our favourite outlaws relaxing in Goa.
Obviously, the traffic in India did them in, and Dom and co are back in business in Fast & Furious 6 (2013), taking down mercenaries in exchange for amnesty — since when did they care about being respectable? Luke Evans plays Shaw, a former Special Forces man gone rogue. The action continues to be fuelled by adrenalin and the dialogue suitably droll. That snobby auctioneer being shown his place was supremely satisfying.
A pall of gloom
Walker’s fatal accident in November 2013 cast a pall of gloom over Furious 7 (2015). Directed by James Wan (Justin Lin left after directing four films), the seventh instalment had a Mission Impossible look and feel, from a McGuffin by the name of God’s Eye and action going all over the globe. The films increasingly look like regular action movies with the edgy street racing look all but air-brushed out. Apart from Diesel, Walker, Johnson, Rodriguez, Gibson and Brewster reprising their roles, the star cast gets bulkier with the introduction of Djimon Hounsou, Kurt Russell and Jason Statham.
And so we come to The Fate of the Furious . Opening on April 14. The eighth instalment is directed by F Gary Gray ( Straight Outta Compton ) and stars Charlize Theron as a criminal mastermind. The other new entrant is Helen Mirren as the Shaws’ (the rogue Special Forces guys) mum — maybe she has taken time out from RED!
While the street vibe has definitely got diluted, there is enough of fun to be had with the boys and their toys. Time to hit pedal to metal.
