The Fate of the Furious (Dir. F. Gary Gray, 2h 6m.)

By now, dear reader, you make have a mental image of me as someone who prefers, with few exceptions, art-housey or "intelligent" pictures designed to stimulate discussion and thought. To be honest, whilst I do like cinema that provokes debate, or which is cinematically bold or innovative...I also enjoy magnificently overblown action movies, and The Fate of the Furious, the 8th installment in the driving/heist/action/caper series that has developed from simple car-v-car spectacle to a labyrinthine and jaw-droppingly weird franchise that has everything from swarms of self-driving cars to a plane v car chase to Jason Statham having a gunfight whilst carrying a baby, is no different. What it does have that many action movies lack these days is a sense of almost anarchic fun, and happy to go, for lack of a word, utterly bonkers.

Whilst by now everyone seems to have seen these films, the film briefly reintroduces us to, what, in essence, are multiple actors playing themselves-Vin Diesel plays the gruff but honourable leader, Dwyane Johnson the tough no-nonsense (but good father) ex cop, Michelle Rodriguez the smart token tough girl, Tyrese Gibson and Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges the reformed con and techie and Nathalie Emmanuel the team's other token techie girl. This central family are, frankly, great characters to be around, and the new additions, notably Jason Statham are excellent additions. Against them is pitted the hacker, Cypher, played by Charlie Theron...and to be honest, she steals the show, flickeing between detached pseudo-intellectual and scenery chewingly mad-and it's her division of the team, pulling Vin Diesel's character onto her side as a mixture of a getaway driver and accomplice, carrying out an number of increasingly over-the-top heists.

As with the more recent films, it's these heists, and the resultant action sequences that are the real stars of the pictures-and what a set of sequences. First, the car race in Cuba-whilst this sequence is easily the slightest, it still has some spectacular shots, culminating in one of the cars crashing in to the harbour in a spectacular slowmotion shot. Then comes the betrayal by Diesel's character, together with another jaw-dropping shot of a truly colossal wrecking ball smashing through their pursuers; with Diesel turning traitor, and Johnson's character captured, the team are left licking their wounds. After a nifty prison break, wherein Statham is reintroduced and tagged onto the group, and Johnson returns to the group.

From here, we go straight to New York where our heroes tool up with new cars, and set off to deal with Diesel-and here we get perhaps the single best sequence of the film, as Cypher promptly hacks and pilots thousands of cars to entrap a Russian Minister, with one of the single best shots of this year a kamizake wave of cars rolling out of the car park to rain down upon the hapless minister. From here, the film takes one final trip, to the frozen north of Russia...and honestly, this final sequence blows the rest of the film out of the water, effortlessly cutting between the on-foot-fighting, the chases, and by far the tour-de-force sequence, wherein Statham and his brother steal back and then escort the baby to safety, and of course, that submarine...

As an action movie, this film honestly surpasses most other pictures I've seen this year; sequences escalate nicely, even when the action is at its most utterly bonkers, with the "zombie cars" perhaps the best example of this. As the latter half of the Fast and Furious franchise has increasingly upped the stakes, from mere driver gangs to terrorists to the power crazed Cypher, so the action reflects this-every action sequence neatly ups the ante. But, most importantly, this film has a sense of fun. A major character picking an almost breathtakingly impractical car to the frozen ice of Russia? Fun. A villainness whose world domination is neither economic nor power based, but simply so she can act as judge and jury over its superpowers, armed with nukes, EMP devices and an army of (bizarre product placement) zombie cars at her beck and call? Fun. Johnson and Statham's macho square off? Fun, and with some of the most ridiculous threats put to celluloid in years. Dame Helen fucking Mirren playing Jason Statham's mother? Not only fun to watch but clearly fun for her. As for the final setpiece aboard Cypher's plane, the comedic and action delivery are near pitch perfect. I have not grinned like a loon this much since Lego Batman.    

This film, in short, is a great series of utterly mad action sequences containing entertaining characters, doing entertaining things, and utter chaos abounds in every major scene. The over-the-top action movie at its best. It's not artistic, it's not got a deeper message, it's a mindless, brilliantly crazy action movie in a series that has gone from strength to strength

Rating: Recommended