F. Gary Gray directs Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson and Charlize Theron in the eighth installment of The Fast and the Furious’ ludicrous car thieves turned espionage disrupters action franchise. 

Nowhere near as much ridiculous fun as the previous OTT sequels – the purpose to the action just isn’t there, while what little plot there is is emotionally uninvolving. When not going through its shouty, destructive motions the brightest stars shine despite a staleness in the endeavour entire. The Rock and Jason Statham have good business when paired off together and also with their separate (unusually) kid orientated sequences too. Kurt Russell sparkles while popping in to pick up his paycheck as the coolest M that ever got to deliver a bit of mission exposition. Vin Diesel and Michelle Rodriquez get lumbered with the excuse of a story this time, and it is not a difficult one to unpack so little credit for them. While Charlize is far superior than the cornrowed Dr No part she is saddled with. Too much screaming at desktops and into Walkie Talkies as expensive things smash into each other for her in particular and everyone in the main, not enough calculated peril and pop. A step backwards for the normally cheekily satisfying brainless blockbuster brand.

5