The Fate of the Furious is the eighth movie in the Fast and Furious franchise and takes advantage of all of the past history that has taken place. The movie continues the adventures of Dom and his crew, and for seemingly the first time, it seems like the group finally has a chance to live a normal life. Brian O'Connor and Mia Toretto are retired and are spending time with their children, Dominic Toretto and Letty are married, and the rest of the crew are relaxing. However, while in Havana, Cuba, a mysterious woman is able to convince Dom to start working with her. This eventually leads to Dom being forced to betray his family and Luke Hobbes while on a mission. The crew is eventually gathered up by the government to find Dom and stop him from helping the woman, Cipher, who plans on unleashing utter chaos. To make matters worse, as a way of ensuring that Dom gets captured, the government decides to free Deckard Shaw and make him work with the crew, whom are the group of people that put him in jail in the first place. Although it seems easy, the crew has never been forced to face Dom before, and as their strongest member and leader, it will be like going against nothing they have ever faced before, and Cipher is a technology wizard, who is capable of basically tracking everybody by hacking to anything with a camera and knows how to make people act against their will, creating a deadly combination that could prove to be fatal. 

The Fate of the Furious proves to be an exhilarating adventure that knows how to keep audiences on the edges of their seats. The beginning of the movie smoothly transitions from the spectacular seventh movie into this one in a manner that feels like there was never any pause, as audiences are instantly caught up on Dom and his crew's lives. The middle of the movie does a marvelous job of progressing the movie along, presenting new and original obstacles to all of the main characters and challenging everyone to their very limit. The enticing ending proves to be everything and then some that the creators could have hope for, becuase it takes advantage of all of the drama, suspense, and intensity that has been conjured up to tie up all loose ends cleverly. There's a tremendous amount of thrilling twists and turns at seemingly every inch and corner of the movie, and they are all so genuinely shocking that they're impossible to see coming. These surprises help to make the movie substantially more interesting and are a major factor in causing audiences to understand the characters to so much greater lengths, as well as make the history of the Fast and Furious franchise feel that much more grand. 
 

The Fate of the Furious greatly benefits from being a fantastic concept. The idea of having the entire crew going against their leader in Dom is pure genius and is more than just a bit intriguing to watch. Because Dom is all about being there for family, the fact that he turns against the very thing that makes him uniquely him showcases another side of his personality and really demonstrates how all of the characters function and think. Causing Dom to turn against everyone, including Letty, the love of his life, is just such an incredible idea that it would be hard for the movie to mess it up, and the film certainly doesn't. This also helps the movie in having an insane amount of character development that allows nearly every character to improve and become that much more complex by the end of the film, giving everybody so much more depth to their personalities. 

 Because The Fate of the Furious is such an unbelievably cool idea, there are so many awesome scenes that are created and help to shape the outcome of the movie, while also pleasing audiences. One scene in particular is when Dom is literally cornered by his group, since he is in his famous American muscle car and locked by hooks by his crew's cars. This puts Dom in a position where he is forced to escape, causing him to flip over everyone's cars and race through the group, demonstrating why he clearly is the strongest driver of the group. Another amazing scene is when Deckard Shaw and Luke Hobbes are put in a position where they go against an entire army of jail guards and prisoners trying to escape, while also fighting one another. Not to be outdone, but another magnificent moment is when the entire crew must escape missiles and being gunned down, while driving in expensive sports cars on a sheet of ice in the middle of Russia, which is just as extraordinary as it sounds.

Although The Fate of the Furious is able to accomplish so much and still be an enjoyable, entertaining roller coaster, there still feels like something is missing, and this is probably a direct result of Brian O'Connor not being in the movie. Because of Paul Walker's unfortunate death, who is the actor that plays Brian, the movie doesn't have the character in the movie or Mia Toretto, who's Dom's sister and has usually acted as a motivation for Dom. Even though it is understandable that the franchise didn't try to replace Brian, which was the right thing to do, his relationship with all of the characters was crucial to what made all of the movies feel so uniquely a part of the Fast and Furious franchise. However, the movie does do a satisfactory job of dealing with the loss of Brian in the movie. The characters basically explain that they don't want to get Brian and Mia re-involved with the dangerous way of life, and this hints at the fact that they are trying to live normal lives with their new family, which makes logical sense. 
 

The Fate of the Furious continues the tradition of the Fast and Furious movies boasting a talented cast. Vin Diesel continues to be the face of the franchise as Dominic Toretto, and his role is essential to the entire franchise and is a main reason for all of the success. Dwayne Johnson is back again as Luke Hobbes, and this character seems to have a more important role with each additional movie. Michelle Rodriguez portrays Letty again, and this time her character is able to shine even more so, because her relationship with Dom becomes one of the most important aspects of the movie. Jason Statham plays Deckard Shaw again, and he is able to capture all of the craziness that the character has. Charlize Theron transforms into Cipher, the main villain of the movie, and she does a terrific job of showcasing the dangerous, philosophical, mathematical character that might be the most dangerous villain in the entire franchise. Tyrese Gibson plays Roman Pearce, and he is able to add some humor to the movie, which helps to ensure that the tone of the movie never becomes too dark, regardless of what's going on. Ludacris portrays Tej Parker, and his relationship with Roman Pearce helps to combine to form one of the best acting duos in the whole movie. 
 

Not only is The Fate of the Furious enjoyed by fans, but critics also found some satisfaction with the movie. Rotten Tomatoes gave the movie a decent 68%, which is actually a lot better than it sounds, since they are known for giving generally lower scores to other movies in the franchise, and IMDb gave the movie a solid 6.7/10. Furthermore, an outstanding 92% of Google users liked the movie, demonstrating that the movie was a hit with a wide variety of audiences.
 

Although The Fate of the Furious isn't quite on the same emotional level as the seventh one, this movie manages to still accomplish a lot, as it forever changes audiences' perceptions of the characters on-screen, because they are forced to take on Dom in a manner that will forever change their fate, which the name suggests. For those who haven't seen the other movies though, this isn't the best place to start, but for those who have, this is absolutely a must-see, since it will surpass any and all previous expectations. This one's fast and furious.