Vin Diesel's Dom Toretto is leading a quiet life off the grid with Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) and his son, Little Brian (Isaac and Immanuel Holdane), but they know that danger always lurks just over their peaceful horizon. This time, that threat will force Dom to confront the sins of his past if he's going to save those he loves most. His crew, including Roman (Tyrese Gibson), Teg (Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges), Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel), Han (Sang Kang), Sean (Lucas Black) and others, joins together to stop a world-shattering plot led by Cipher (Charlize Theron) and by the most skilled assassin and high-performance driver they've ever encountered: a man who also happens to be Dom's forsaken and estranged brother Jakob (John Cena).
Others to round out the cast are Jordana Brewster as Mia, Finn Cole as young Jakob, Helen Mirren as Queenie, Thue Ersted Rassmussen as Otto, Don Omar as Santos, Vinnie Bennett as young Dom, Michael Rooker as Buddy and J.D. Pardo as Jack Toretto, Dom and Jakob's father.
This was intensely directed by the same filmmaker that directed others of this franchise: Justin Lin ("Shopping for Fangs" '97, "Better Luck Tomorrow" '02, "Annapolis" '06, "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" '06, "Finishing the Game" '07, "Fast & Furious" '09, "Fast Five" '11, "Fast & Furious 6" '13, "Star Trek Beyond" '16) plus TV and shorts. By his very resume, the action genre is definitely Lin's claim to fame and he carries it well. The way he combines the photography with the editing and stunts is incredible and he seems to be able to handle this effortlessly. He's worked with many of the actors in this since he's directed other Fast & Furious films and with that, his style and ease in which he's able to intertwine the characters is strong. It is written by Daniel Casey ("The Passage" '03, "Secrets of Fenville" (segment-- "Happily Married Vigilantes") '03, "The Death of Michael Smith" '06, "Kin" '08) plus TV and shorts and Lin (Shopping for Fangs" '97, "Better Luck Tomorrow" '02, "Finishing the Game" '07, "Hollywood Adventures" '15) plus shorts, based on a story by Lin, Alfredo Botello and Casey, which is based on characters created by Gary Scott Thompson. This was a very thrilling, intense and compelling premise going back to Dom and Jakob's past as brothers and what caused them to become estranged presented as frequent flashbacks. This worked well, but as more characters came into the story, the premise was becoming a bit compromised as the story unfolded, otherwise the screenplay was well executed. This was shy of a two and a half hour running time and it could've been reduced about 10-15 minutes. The reason why anyone would want to see this is because the stunts, explosions and amazing visual effects predominantly designed by ILM (Industrial, Light & Magic) and Double Negative were seamless. You might want to stay for some of the credits at the end, since there is a bit of a surprise.
If you're into watching a film that has a taught script and fine acting, try choosing a different film, however if an exciting, action-packed film laced with pure escapism is your liking, you'll love this, two and a half hours or not. If you plan on seeing this, it has got to be on the large screen since it would be lost on a TV screen. In fact, this is also presented in an IMAX format which would probably be killer! Grab the popcorn and rev your engines!
Out of 4 Stars: 3 Rated: PG-13 143mins.
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