The Fate of the Furious (alternatively known as Fast & Furious 8 or Furious 8) is a 2017 American action film directed by F. Gary Gray and written by Chris Morgan. It is the eighth installment in The Fast and the Furious franchise. The film stars Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris Bridges, Eva Mendes, Lucas Black, Kurt Russell and Jason Statham.
Plans for an eighth installment was first announced in March 2015 when Diesel appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and announced that the film would be set in New York. Preparations for the film began immediately after the release of Furious 7 with Diesel, Morgan and producer Neal H. Moritz re-signing. After setting an initial release date in the same month, casting took place between April and June of 2015, with the remaining cast yet to be rounded out. In October 2015, Gray, best known for directing Straight Outta Compton (2015), was announced to direct the film in place of James Wan, who had directed the previous film. Principal photography began in March 2016 in Mývatn, Iceland, with other filming locations set to include Atlanta and New York.
The film marks the first film of the franchise other than The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift not to star Paul Walker, who died in a single-vehicle crash on November 30, 2013, while filming Furious 7 with only half-completed. The film was released on April 14, 2017.
Plot
With Dom (Vin Diesel) and Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) married, Brian and Mia retired and the rest of the crew exonerated, the globe-trotting team has found some semblance of a normal life. They soon face an unexpected challenge when a mysterious woman named Cipher (Charlize Theron) forces Dom to betray them all. Now, they must unite to bring home the man who made them a family and stop Cipher from unleashing chaos.
Cast
- Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto
- Charlize Theron as Cipher
- Dwayne Johnson as Luke Hobbs
- Michelle Rodriguez as Letty Ortiz
- Tyrese Gibson as Roman Pearce
- Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges as Tej Parker
- Scott Eastwood as Little Nobody
- Nathalie Emmanuel as Ramsey
- Elsa Pataky as Elena Neves
- Kurt Russell as Mr. Nobody
Tego Calderón and Don Omar reprise their roles from previous films as Tego Leo and Rico Santos, former members of Dom's team from the Dominican Republic and Rio de Janeiro, respectively. Luke Evans reprises his role from Fast & Furious 6 as Owen Shaw, Deckard's younger brother who formerly opposed Dom's team in Europe, and who helps his brother in rescuing Dom's son. Kristofer Hivju appears as Connor Rhodes, Cipher's enforcer and right-hand man. Helen Mirren makes an uncredited cameo appearance as Magdalene Shaw, the mother of Deckard and Owen Shaw.
Reception
Critical response
The Fate of the Furious received mixed to positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 67% based on 302 reviews, with an average rating of 6.14/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "The Fate of the Furious opens a new chapter in the franchise, fueled by the same infectious cast chemistry and over-the-top action fans have come to expect." On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating, the film has a score 56 out of 100, based on 45 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". On CinemaScore, audiences gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.