How do you follow Number 7's one-and-a-half-billion dollar box office? More of the same, but even bigger. Starting off in a (great-looking) Havana with a straight race sequence that hearkens back to the earlier F&Fs, and ending with a Mission:Impossible/James Bond fever-dream, Number 8 does not veer much from the now-established structural template of the series and relies closely on the events and characters of the previous episode (although Number 7 turns out to be a much sharper and more cohesive film overall) and the preceding two films before that. For a series whose raison d'etre has become jumping the shark, the demented final act here manages to be entertainingly preposterous, although lacking the true jaw-dropping moments of previous entries and with an obviously heavy reliance on CGI, but it does give Statham the opportunity to enact a brilliantly silly homage to that sequence in Woo's Hard Boiled. There are numerous fan-pleasing moments, a couple of brutal shocks, a couple of surprises and a lot of humour that oddly the cinema audience was not picking up. As well as the insane action sequences, there is also some smart deconstruction of the concept of family and some reasonably interesting consideration of fate versus choice at play here. The core crew of actors delivers admirably (interestingly, Brian and Mia are definitely missed as part of the team), Charlize Theron does a great cool villain, and as pure popcorn entertainment the film delivers very effectively overall.
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