Make It Rain 

Fast And Furious 8: The Fate Of The Furious
Stars: Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Scott Eastwood, Nathalie Emmanuel, Kurt Russell and Charlize Theron as Cipher
Director: F. Gary Gray
Scriptwriter: Chris Morgan
Composer: Brian Tyler
Cinematographer: Stephen F. Windon
Universal
Rating: PG 13 with violence, car chases and explosions
Running Length: 137 minutes 

After your head clears from the sound of loud car motors and explosions, the one thing that will remain is a nightmare of  “what if?” What if all the cars out on the road in a town on a given day were hacked and taken over by someone with nastiness on their mind? This is one of the many car chase happenings in this movie and the one that will remain with you. Driverless cars? See this film and think twice about that. 

The plot (and yes, there is one) in “The Fate Of The Furious” (Number 9 is being filmed) concerns family, family loyalty, friends, friendship and doing what is right.  All this goes out the window when Dom (Vin Diesel) meets Cipher (Charlize Theron) a computer hacker whiz who has world domination on her mind. She needs someone with car skills and there is Dom, just ripe for the picking when he gives speeches on family loyalty. However, Cipher has a secret. In the meantime, Luke (Dwayne Johnson, “The Rock”) is taking time from government work with Frank Petty (Kurt Russell) to be with his family (and train his daughter’s soccer team), but, he, too is drawn into this scenario, as are the rest of Dom’s team, plus Deckard (Jason Statham.) The film actually begins in Havana, Cuba and ends up in the Barents Sea* with a submarine, quite a contrast in climate. The plan is for Cipher to steal nuclear missile codes with Dom’s unwilling help, and the rest of the group are after Dom, not sure if he is rogue, or not. The chases go from Cuba to New York to Russia and then to the Sea. Where are the codes? Here? There? Everywhere? The chases include a car race in Havana, dodging an enormous wrecking ball (no, Miley Cyrus was not there) on the streets and then sliding on the ice in the far North Country. An unusual one is having cars come down from parking garages and land on the street in front of people driving cars. When Cipher says, “Make it rain,” she means it. 

Comic touches are many and you have to stay awake to catch them. Helen Mirren plays Jason Statham’s mother and their dialogue and timing are very good. The phrase, “I'm going to talk to your Mother,” has meaning. There is always the banter between Roman (Tyrese Gibson) who seems to be afraid of everything and Tej (Chris “Ludacris”  Bridges) who teases Roman. Plus, the additional banter between any two people who happen to stand next to each other. 

As far as acting, each person in the cast gets their moment with the camera. If you have a favorite, just wait and their turn will come. My favorite scene? Deckard and his Mom. This could be a film by itself. 

“The Fate Of The Furious" is entertainment and has a built-in audience world-wide. This time, they cover Cuba, New York and Russia, so what is left? Outer space? Can't you see Vin and a souped-up space shuttle cruising around the satellites on the way to the Space Station? Just sayin’.....anything is possible here. Keep your seat belt always buckled.  

*Barents Sea is a body of water located near Greenland, Iceland, Finland and Russia. 

Copyright 2017 Marie Asner