O.K. I’m a bit late to the party. The movie came out while I was flying to Greece and leading a tour for two weeks. I believe I’ve seen all the previous iterations of this series, and I did not think that they could outdo some of the previous special effects, particularly with cars. I was mostly wrong. The central characters and the interaction of the ensemble I’ve enjoyed, as it’s in one sense a series about family, and in another sense a series about teamwork, but in both cases there is the dark shadow hanging over both which involves not only evil but lots and lots of violence. And these is a price to pay because violence and killing mostly just begets more violence and killing. As the old saying says ‘an eye for eye leaves both sides lamed and partially blind’. It would appear that this is the last film in this series, judging from the ending, but the post movie trailer suggests a definite further spin off involving at least one or two continuing characters.
The scene stealer in this film is Jason Moma playing the psychotic son of someone Dom Toretto killed, bent on inflicting suffering death. Who knew Aquaman could turn so wicked? He makes a very good villain, if that is not an oxymoron. The movie is a bit too long, but then who doesn’t like watching chase scenes in places like downtown Rome? At 2 hours and 24 minutes, and with all the violence this movie is not for young children for sure. One of the major problems with watching endless violence is one becomes numb to it, and the possible bad carryover to movies where the heroes keep bouncing back when they should be maimed or dead, is that it creates the illusion that violence is mostly not that dangerous. The same can be said about violent video games. It creates the illusion that humans are mostly bullet proof. Alas, in a country averaging a mass shooting a day this year, this is an illusion we can’t afford to indulge in.
On the brighter side, this series has at times rightly raised the issue of self-sacrifice for those you love, and the importance of faith and family. And I choose to remember those brighter spots, and am left scratching my head as to how they did all those unbelievable car stunts.
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