Tag: The Fate of the Furious

Fast & Furious presents Hobbs & Shaw (2019)

Director: David Leitch

Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Idris Elba, Vanessa Kirby, Helen Mirren

Screenplay: Chris Morgan, Drew Pearce

137 mins. Rated PG-13 for prolonged sequences of action and violence, suggestive material and some strong language.

 

Hobbs & Shaw is a really dumb movie. It’s very fun, but wow, it’s a dumb movie. What did you expect?

It’s been two years since The Fate of the Furious, and Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, San Andreas) and Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham, Crank, Spy) have both been relatively busy kicking ass in the name of justice…more or less. Meanwhile, a group of MI6 agents are attacked while trying to retrieve a virus called Snowflake. Only one of them, Shaw’s sister Hattie (Vanessa Kirby, Mission: Impossible – Fallout, TV’s The Crown) escapes after injecting herself with the virus. Now framed as a fugitive, Hattie is on the run from Brixton Lore (Idris Elba, Beasts of No Nation, TV’s Luther), and she winds up getting help from Hobbs & Shaw. Now, if only they can stop arguing long enough to save Hattie from Brixton and the terrorists he works for.

I cannot stress enough how stupid some parts of this movie get, but at the same time, I come to the Fast & Furious films to see insane action set-pieces and thrilling fight scenes. This whole franchise has branded itself as a B-Movie franchise with an A-Movie budget, and the same holds up in this spin-off. The tone feels slightly different from the other films in this universe, which I think is a smart move to set it aside while also not betraying the character arcs from previous films. You don’t have to have seen any of the previous films to get this one.

Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham have great chemistry together, even if the movie overdoes their banter several times over. There’s still a sense of family to this installment, and both characters get some more background with it, though the family stuff in this installment never feels dramatic like it does in the other franchise. It’s especially nice to see Shaw’s background delved further into, and I think it’s silly that people are calling out the age-issue with him and Vanessa Kirby, as in the film they are about two years apart but the performers are closer to two decades apart. Really? That’s what your problem is with believability? For me, I was hoping to get some more info on his relationship with brother Owen, who feels very absent from this film after his appearances in the franchise, so not seeing Luke Evans was kind of a bummer for me.

My biggest problem apart from the bloated run time is the villain Brixton. I love Idris Elba and I think he gave his all in the film, but I don’t think the character of Brixton is interesting at all, and I didn’t see any solid character development to him. He’s kind of just a villain because he’s a villain. I would love to have seen more of his arc. I also didn’t like the cybernetic implants angle. I just think it pushes the insanity envelope further than I would have liked. I know, I know, but while the silliness has been in this franchise for some time, I feel like Brixton and his cybernetic implants veers the franchise into supernatural territory more than I would like.

Hobbs & Shaw is a pretty solid ninth entry in this franchise, though for me it’s not as strong as the last four films in the series. I enjoyed myself, but there is some sputtering in the setup to this spinoff series. I liked the main characters chemistry and the action is really solid, but there are problems with the pacing and the villain. It’s fun to see some really interesting small roles/cameos that I didn’t expect in the film, and I’m looking forward to how they are utilized in a future installment. Overall, Hobbs & Shaw is mindless stupidity and that’s what I was hoping for. This is popcorn action at its most ludicrous.

 

3/5

-Kyle A. Goethe

 

 

For my review of Rob Cohen’s The Fast and the Furious, click here.

For my review of Philip G. Atwell’s Turbo Charged Prelude, click here.

For my review of John Singleton’s 2 Fast 2 Furious, click here.

For my review of Vin Diesel’s Los Bandoleros, click here.

For my review of Justin Lin’s Fast & Furious, click here.

For my review of James Wan’s Furious 7, click here.

For my review of F. Gary Gray’s The Fate of the Furious, click here.

For my review of David Leitch’s Atomic Blonde, click here.

For my review of David Leitch’s Deadpool 2, click here.

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Jordana Brewster Drives Into Fast & Furious 9

Production is officially kicking into high gear (see what I did there?) for Fast & Furious 9, and franchise leader Vin Diesel has revealed via Instagram that Jordana Brewster, who played Diesel’s character’s sister Mia in the franchise, will be retuning for the next installment. We last saw Mia in Furious 7, as her character settled down with husband Brian, played by the late great Paul Walker, at the conclusion of the film. I didn’t expect to see Mia again outside of a potential cameo phone call scene or something of that nature. While the character was not seen in The Fate of the Furious, it now appears like we will Mia and Brewster again in the next installment.

It was a tough go of things for the studio and director James Wan on the production of Furious 7 to retool the film into a swan song for Paul Walker and his character, one of the two leads for the franchise.

Diesel’s post also indicated that a young actor had been cast to play Mia and Brian’s son, so it is expected that I was right and we will probably just get a cameo in the film. For me, I know how important this series was to Walker, and I would assume he would be happy for it to continue on in his absence, so something like a cameo to remind fans that, even though Walker is gone, Brian O’Connor is out there still, happy with a family, and I’m curious to see how they play it.

So what do you think? Are you happy to see Jordana Brewster retuning to The Fast and the Furious franchise? Let me know/Drop a comment below!

 

-Kyle A. Goethe

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[Early Review] Atomic Blonde (2017)

Director: David Leitch

Cast: Charlize Theron, James McAvoy, John Goodman

Screenplay: Kurt Johnstad

115 mins. Rated R for sequences of strong violence, language throughout, and some sexuality/nudity.

 

I saw Atomic Blonde the other night, and I was heavily intrigued walking into the theater. After all, David Leitch has proven he knows action and the trailers had a lot of bite, so how was the film?

Lorraine Broughton (Charlize Theron, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Fate of the Furious) is sent to Germany in 1989 right before the collapse of the Berlin Wall to retrieve The List, an important piece of intel containing information about all current operating spies. Lorraine is ordered to work with David Percival (James McAvoy, X-Men: First Class, Split), a Berlin station chief who has gone native, in order to retrieve The List and take down a powerful group of spies in the process.

Atomic Blonde has some of the best action sequences of any film in the past few years. Charlize Theron proves herself yet again capable of playing a strong kick-ass female protagonist, and her scenes where she is whooping her adversaries are incredibly strong. The rest of the film, however, falls flat rather quickly. We are introduced to interesting characters like Til Schweiger’s Watchmaker and Bill Skarsgard’s Merkel and then instead are subjected to poor villains (and far too many) that are underdeveloped. It’s as if somebody said, “Yeah, there are Russians and Germans and it’s set in the Cold War,” and somehow that was enough. But it wasn’t. I actually would have liked to see more inclusion from Broughton’s allies, including Toby Jones as Eric Gray, her handler, and John Goodman (Monsters, Inc., Bunyan and Babe) as Emmett Kurzfeld, a CIA agent. Sadly, these two great supporting players are relegated to a small role that amounts to little more than a framing device.

The plot is overly convoluted with twists and turns for the sake of having twists and turns, and every time that the bullets stopped flying, I lost interest. This is especially apparent near the end of the film when everything Shyamalans pretty hardcore. By the time the ending hit, I was mostly out of it.

That’s not to say it’s the worst film ever. I liked some of the more stylistic flairs like the titles displayed as spray painted Berlin Wall-esque touches, and the soundtrack is exceptional and worth listening to, but there just wasn’t enough outside the fight scenes to cling to, and Atomic Blonde suffers from it.

Overall, Atomic Blonde is mindless action, but its major detractors are its plot, and no film should have that noted. Charlize Theron does better than I expected again, and she is surrounded by capable players that have nothing to do.  The film quickly finds itself out of excitement and it isn’t something I see myself wanting to watch again.

 

2.5/5

-Kyle A. Goethe

 

 

 

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Beauty and the Beast (2017)

Director: Bill Condon

Cast: Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Luke Evans, Kevin Kline, Josh Gad, Ewan McGregor, Stanley Tucci, Audra MacDonald, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Ian McKellan, Emma Thompson

Screenplay: Stephen Chbosky, Evan Spiliotopoulos

129 mins. Rated PG for some action violence, peril and frightening images.

 

It’s a tale as old as time but now Disney has turned it into a twice-told tale, but is it any good the second time around?

Belle (Emma Watson, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, The Circle) is a bookworm and inventor living with her father Maurice (Kevin Kline, A Fish Called Wanda, Dean) in the small village of Villeneuve. Belle deals daily with the advances of the slimy and arrogant Gaston (Luke Evans, Dracula Untold, The Fate of the Furious) and his sidekick LeFou (Josh Gad, Frozen, A Dog’s Purpose) as well as the looks from the townspeople who find the young woman rather odd. When Maurice is lost in the woods, he comes across a castle inhabited by a terrible Beast (Dan Stevens, TV’s Downton Abbey, Colossal) who trades Maurice for Belle. Then, Belle and the Beast find themselves falling for one another in the best adaptation of an animated Buffalo-Human Romance film ever to grace the silver screen.

But how about the actual film?

Well, in the world of adaptations, I found that this 2017 iteration from director Bill Condon (Dreamgirls, Mr. Holmes) has some improvements on the original and some elements that didn’t work. Mostly, though, it’s the same film. And in a lot of ways, that lessens it. There are very few liberties taken here, and overall it gives the film a very tame feeling which never really drew me in.

Let’s start with what works. The amount of respect given to the French location of the film is strong. Most of the accents work and even little touches like French subtitles in the end credits give flair. There’s also a sense of theatricality to the film due to Condon’s decision to treat this like a tale you’ve seen before. I highly suggest watching the film with the overture as it harkens back to the classic tale from decades back. I thought the treatment of Disney’s first gay character LeFou was respectful. I thought the tightening up of plot points in the prince’s age and in his ability to read (a major change to the character from the 1991 film) work well here. I also really liked a lot of the personalities and performances from the various living pieces of furniture, most notably Lumiere (Ewan McGregor, Trainspotting, American Pastoral), Cogsworth (Ian McKellan, TV’s Vicious, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring) and Mrs. Potts (Emma Thompson, Sense and Sensibility, Bridget Jones’s Baby). I am very thankful, however, that the director decided to cut the character known as Monsieur Toilette, played by Stephen Merchant, who would have been, you guessed it, a toilet.

And of course, the film looks gorgeous. There are a number of images I’d love to have on my wall from this film. Everything here looks astounding with a tremendous attention to detail.

Now, the issues with the film are glaring. I thought “Be Our Guest” was grossly over-animated and looked terrible. I felt like the film’s forcefulness to sticking to the source material made the film feel like it was dragging on forever. The musical numbers felt very autotuned and unrealistic and none of them really enhanced the original pieces. The issues amount to very simply not improving the original. This film is essentially a shot-for-shot remake in a lot of ways, and we’ve seen how that works out a number of times, most notably with Psycho and The Omen. It never seems to work, and it only reminds you how superior the original is.

Overall, I enjoyed Beauty and the Beast much more than I thought I would. Disney continues to create enjoyable experience rehashing old tales. The biggest problem with Beauty and the Beast is that I don’t see why anyone would choose to watch it again if they have the original film to go to. It just feels forgettable for all of its 129 minutes. There’s just a better version already out.

 

3/5

-Kyle A. Goethe

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[Early Review] The Fate of the Furious (2017)

Director: F. Gary Gray

Cast: Vin Diesel, Jason Statham, Dwayne Johnson, Charlize Theron, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris Bridges, Nathalie Emmanuel, Kurt Russell, Scott Eastwood, Helen Mirren

Screenplay: Chris Morgan

136 mins. Rated PG-13 for prolonged sequences of violence and destruction, suggested content, and language.

 

Trust me, you need to understand what kind of film you are about to see.

Dom (Vin Diesel, Guardians of the Galaxy, xXx: The Return of Xander Cage) and new wife Letty (Michelle Rodriguez, Avatar, The Assignment) are enjoying their honeymoon in Cuba when a mysterious woman shows up and tells Dom that he is going to work for her. When Dom is on a mission with Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson, Moana, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island) and the rest of the crew, he turns on them, showing allegiance to the mystery woman called Cipher (Charlize Theron, Mad Max: Fury Road, Kubo and the Two Strings) and in the process, shattering his familial bonds. Now, Hobbs, aided by Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell, The Hateful Eight, Deepwater Horizon) and forced to join up with Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham, The Transporter, Spy), must track Dom and Cipher in an effort to save their fallen brother or take him out.

As I’ve stated before, the important thing to remember about this franchise is that it is very unique. Action spectacles are no new thing in Hollywood, The Fast and the Furious, as a franchise, is a B-Movie franchise with an ever-expanding budget. That sort of thing just doesn’t really happen. What sets it apart from others is the focus on a recurring theme (family) and the set pieces that aren’t focused on realism in the slightest but instead, these action beats are asking the question: How can we make this more ridiculous? And that’s what works here.

The cast does admirable work here as the likable family members while newcomers Scott Eastwood (Gran Torino, Snowden) as Mr. Nobody’s new recruit and Charlize Theron as Cipher. There is a notable exclusion made by the absence of Brian O’Connor (played by the late Paul Walker) but I completely understand what happened and I still feel like his character is honored here in a pretty touching albeit predictable way.

Incoming director F. Gary Gray (The Italian Job, Straight Outta Compton), fresh off his recent success with the NWA biopic, teams up with previous collaborators in Diesel, Johnson, Theron, and Statham creates a kinetic energy that runs rampant through this film, creating some of the darkest plot threads of the series while also some of the most hilarious action scenes too. Gray’s direction results in a unique experience without pushing too far.

Through it all, though, there are times when The Fate of the Furious feels unusually restrained (hear me out), as if the film itself is trying to top the craziness from the superior Fast Five and Furious 7 but just can’t quite get there. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but something felt off at times throughout, and perhaps that’s due to Diesel’s character being tied up with Cipher rather than the crew we all find him more enjoyable with. I was very happy to discover that the unusual plot line of betrayal actually kind of makes sense within the larger scope of The Fast and the Furious franchise (I had been very worried when I saw the initial trailer).

I was very impressed with The Fate of the Furious. This entry in the series isn’t the best one to come along, but it definitely rest higher on the ranking. This is a franchise that isn’t trying to win over new fans (though it doesn’t seem to need that), and this newest installment only proves that this is a franchise for the fans. I enjoyed it and the numerous surprises that this film has in store. I highly suggest an opening weekend viewing.

 

4/5

-Kyle A. Goethe

 

 

For my review of Rob Cohen’s The Fast and the Furious, click here.

For my review of Philip G. Atwell’s Turbo Charged Prelude, click here.

For my review of John Singleton’s 2 Fast 2 Furious, click here.

For my review of Vin Diesel’s Los Bandoleros, click here.

For my review of Justin Lin’s Fast & Furious, click here.

For my review of James Wan’s Furious 7, click here.

For my review of F. Gary Gray’s Straight Outta Compton, click here.

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