Seven movies in and an eighth on the way, fans are still piling in to see the FAST AND FURIOUS movies for a specific set of reasons: cars, explosions and booty. Lots of booty. But in recent years the studio and the movies themselves have been trying to rebrand them as being about “family”, hinting that cars and Dwayne Johnson’s biceps actually come second to “rich” and “complex” character studies. You can see that angle really getting a big push in the latest international for THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS, which focuses on the relationship between Dom (Vin Diesel) and Letty (Michelle Rodriguez). Oh, and there’s booty.
I think FATE will no doubt try to explore these characters a little more, but ultimately people will come out to see these movies for the same reason they always have. As much as I like the actors in the movies I can't say I'm really invested in their characters. Hell, I don't even know most of their names or what they do. All I know is that Tyrese Gibson is the one who screams, and Chris "Ludacris" Bridges is the one who tells him to stop screaming.
THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS with the whole lot of them races into theaters April 14.