‘The Fate of the Furious’ Proves That the Venerable Franchise Has Plenty Left in the Tank

This is the point at which the “Fast and the Furious” franchise should be starting to feel tired. Dominic Toretto and his family of street racing secret agents have saved the world time and time again. The series has broken out every exotic location imaginable, save outer space. And you’d think there are only so many action scenes you can shoehorn sports cars into. But the eighth installment, “The Fate of the Furious,” delivers yet another incredible thrill ride, one that ties together everything that came before and lays a surprising amount of groundwork for the many films to come.

“The Fate of the Furious” opens with Dom (Vin Diesel) and Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) enjoying their honeymoon in Havana. One morning, Dom is approached by a mysterious woman (Charlize Theron) who blackmails Dom into turning on his team and working for her. It turns out that the woman is Cipher, the mastermind behind the events of the sixth and seventh installments, and she has yet another plan to hold the entire world hostage. Dom’s team, wounded and betrayed, must team up with Cipher’s ex-henchman Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) to track Dom down and once again save the world.

You might be wondering how they could possibly top the action from “Furious 7,” which opened with cars parachuting out of a plane and escalated from there. And, aside from one bonkers Cipher attack that shouldn’t be spoiled, they don’t quite clear the bar set by previous installments—beyond going to outer space, there’s only so much bigger you can get. As an action flick, “The Fate of the Furious” is still rock-solid, but what really puts the film over the top as one of the best entries in the series is just how smart of a sequel it is.

You’d think this installment would feel repetitive, but director F. Gary Gray and longtime series writer Chris Morgan use continuity to transform the film into a victory lap instead of a retread. Unlike the Marvel movies, which often mortgages the integrity of their individual installments for the sake of the cinematic universe, “The Fate of the Furious” uses its callbacks and shout-outs to amplify its familiar themes of family and teamwork into one of the most resonant arguments for unity and trust you’ll see in theaters this year.

“The Fate of the Furious” is by no means a masterpiece. The plot matters even less here than it has in the past, and Theron’s icy villain doesn’t feel fully realized. Newcomers to the series might be justifiably turned off by its gearhead machismo, but peel back the thin layer of toxic masculinity and you’ll find a big mushy heart that’s almost impossible not to love. You may just be onboard for the cool cars and beautiful people, but by the time the eighth “Fast and Furious” film wraps up with a small, moving final tribute to the late Paul Walker, you’ll be wiping at your eyes and getting excited for the ninth. Hopefully it’s set in outer space.

The Fate of the Furious” opens nationwide on April 14.