Rating: 2.5 out of 5
Reviewer: Trash Morash
The trailer for another yet another Fast & Furious movie came as a surprise to me. Why another Fast & Furious movie, where the only trademark is an increasingly stupid title? The answer can be found by delving into the numbers behind Universal Picture’s Fast & Furious franchise.
This movie cost around US$250 million to make and raked in US$532.5 million worldwide during its debut weekend. This is the highest earning in recorded history. The Fast and Furious 8 raced past to shatter the record held by Star Wars: The Force Awakens. I found this really surprising, but, to Universal Studios, the incredible box office takings were expected, and the film actually slightly underperformed in the domestic market. Ticket sales at home were around US$50 million less than the opening sales for last Fast & Furious movie. If you know nothing about the franchise this won’t make sense, what with Fast & Furious 8’s mega-star cast and huge budget. However, for those in the know, Furious 7 lost an integral cast member due to a real life car accident which resulted in a huge surge in US ticket sales with movie goers eager to catch Paul Walker’s last performance, similar to the box office success of Batman: The Dark Night after Heath Ledger’s death.
The international success of the film is partly credited to the multi-ethnic cast and global setting. The early films stay on the streets of LA, while as the franchise grew the films became more global in scope. The crew for Fast & Furious 8 travelled far and wide, filming on location in Cuba, Iceland, New York, Cleveland and Atlanta. Fast & Furious 8 sped straight to number one in every territory and broke opening weekend records in just under twenty territories. The unchartered international success included a massive turn out in China (US$192 million) the world’s second largest box office. The film’s undisputed box office success has helped to ensure deals for Fast & Furious 9 and 10.
Although the numbers might suggest otherwise, this movie isn’t for everyone. Most of the dialogue is a mixture of shit talking and dragging: my dick’s dick is bigger than yours. What this film does deliver is a healthy dose of escapism. Pesky things like plot, dialogue, or physics don’t get in the way of all the incredible action. The people are beautiful. Everyone is so attractive. So many tanned and glistening muscles. Although, I will add, The Fate of the Fast & Furious perhaps missed an opportunity to show actors Ludacris and Tyrese Gibson in more tank top weather scenes. The cars are stunning and the stunts incredible. The imaginative use of technology to cause mayhem and spectacle is to be commended. The choreography, colours and shots through the chaos of the prison fight should make it in the top 10 fight scenes.
It’s fun to speculate on what Universal will do to top Fast & Furious 8 in the next two movies. Who will join the already mega-huge stars and awesomely diverse cast? How do you level up from racing tanks, an international chase lead by a (metaphorically) cloaked villain in a jet plane, nuclear warheads, and a cresting submarine? Did I mention Dame Helen Mirren?