The Fast and the Furious has become must-see entertainment with its bi-yearly releases. With the series being a box office success since the 2009 reboot, people have been flocking to theaters to see where the story will take us next.

This time around, Universal had a big challenge ahead of them since they will be continuing the franchise without their lead-star, Paul Walker. Even without Walker, the film still managed to crush it at the box office. In the opening weekend, it earned $100 million in the U.S. and $532.5 million worldwide. The $532.5 million is the biggest worldwide opening in history overthrowing “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” which earned $529 million.

Being the eighth installment of the franchise, many were skeptical about how the film would be bigger and better than the last. However, as always, the director finds a way. F. Gary Gray, the film’s director, managed to bring the story full circle, which has been a current trend in recent films.

The opening scene pays respect to the first movie by showing similarities between Brian (Paul Walker) and Dom’s (Vin Diesel) first race in the first movie, “The Fast and the Furious.” The opening scene is also similar to when Brian brings Dom the old, run-down Toyota Supra to his garage. In summary, the beginning shows how much of an effect Brian has had on Dom since entering his life back in 2001.

From there it becomes obvious that the film is going to focus heavily on Dom. As seen in the trailers, Dom will go rouge and it leads to his team hunting him down. As the movie continues the audience finally sees exactly why Dom has turned his back on his family and it leaves viewers torn on who to side with.

Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell) returns in need of a team to help him in his mission to find Dom. Tej (Ludacris), Roman (Tyrese Gibson), Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel) and Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) all come together to aid Mr. Nobody in his mission. Similar to that of previous films, Roman is quick to make jokes and gives the audience a good laugh. Hobbs holds up his reputation of being an enforcer and having some of the more laughable threats. The tech-savvy duo of Tej and Ramsey help the team with finding a way around all their obstacles. Finally, Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) also makes his return bringing his usual flare of close quarters combat.

The focus on family was still very much present in “The Fate of the Furious.” In fact, this film may have been the most family oriented of the entire series. And as always, the stunts and explosions are some of the best in the industry.

The film’s 7.3/10 rating on IMDb is tied for the highest score out of all the movies in the series. It’s Rotten
Tomatoes score of 66% falls into the average score of all the movies in the series, according to the ratings found on the website. The bottom line is if you are a fan of The Fast and the Furious series then “The Fate of the Furious” is a must see.