I saw the first Fast and the Furious movie in the theater in
2001.
I saw the eighth Fast and the Furious movie in the theater
in 2017.
And none in the theater in between – despite seeing all the
movies.
It’s weird to have been committed enough to a series to see
all eight movies that comprise it, yet only two of them in the theater. And to
have been living during the entire duration of the series, I should say. You
can’t see movies in the theater that came out before you were born, unless
they’re classics and make a return to the big screen.
But I guess the answer is that I’m not really that committed to these movies – yet have seen all of
them anyway.
For this I can credit the choice two years ago to marathon
the ones I hadn’t seen, allowing me to see and rank Furious 7 – which I think I assumed would be the last in the series
– in time for my 2015 ranking deadline. I'd learned that the movies were interestingly intertwined enough that I shouldn't just skip ahead to the seventh. That meant watching The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Fast
and Furious, Fast Five, The Fast and the Furious 6, and Furious 7 all in the space of about six
months. Leaving them even more of a blur in terms of what happens in which movie than
they already would be.
It was reasonable to assume that the death of Paul Walker
would result in them closing the series down, as he was in all but one of the
movies (the outlier Tokyo Drift) and
he was one of the central pillars of the “family” this series is always going
on about. But these movies keep making gobs of cash, and none of the other cast
members seemed to think they were betraying Walker’s memory by making more
movies, so more movies they’ve made – and will continue to make, it would seem.
And darn it if it this isn’t one of my favorite in the whole
series.
You can read my full review here, but short of that I will
just tell you that this is a super fun movie that is actually better made than
most of its predecessors as well. Add in a little credibility from two
Oscar-winning actresses – Helen Mirren and Charlize Theron – and you’ve got a
series that is only gaining validity as it gets into a truly absurd number of
sequels.
But I’m basically repeating my review at this point. What I
couldn’t ponder in the review is whether seeing this movie in the theater – at
the gala Melbourne permiere, no less – made me like it a significant amount
more than I otherwise would have.
“Gala” in this case means that there was a fancy racing car
parked outside the cinema and a number of “babes” (no other word to describe
them) walking around for photo opportunities in tight-fitting white outfits
that tapered off into miniskirts. Oh, and the fact that we got free popcorn and soda. There
were also door prizes if you had a special envelope taped underneath your seat,
but I did not. I even felt up the seat next to me with no luck.
And though I am sometimes susceptible to a movie wining and
dining me, so to speak, I don’t think that played a significant role in my
enjoyment of The Fast and the Furious 8. (And by the way, only once I was
sitting in my seat did I get the play on words between “Fate” and “F8” –
needless to say, I had not previously seen the above poster.) It’s just a fun,
silly movie. It has moments when it takes itself pretty seriously, but it has
more moments when it’s ludicrous. And not only because it has Ludacris in it.
Big screen? May have helped.
Fun movie? Helped more.
I'll probably see the next one in the cinema too.
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