Director F. Gary Gray and screenwriter Chris Morgan put loyalty (even under strain) first and safety last as their globetrotting ensemble pursues an opponent so powerful she has her own AWACS-style airplane. (AWACS stands for Airborne Warning and Control System.)
Along with that kind of credulity straining but harmless prop comes a more troubling display of indifference to fact: Early scenes set in Cuba portray that nation as an island paradise, conveniently ignoring the reality that it has been ruled for the past half century and more by a duo of despots.
Doses of humor and clever resourcefulness help to divert attention from the sketchy us-against-the-world ethics that have characterized the whole series. But moviegoers intent on analyzing the picture's underlying values will wonder whether any personal consideration -- even one as weighty as that coercing Dom -- can justify aiding a villain in her bid to acquire nuclear weapons and gain (what else?) world domination.
On the other hand, however muddled the moral values on offer may be, they do come tricked out with distinctly Christian detailing. Nor can a movie that ends with a clan-gathering meal over which grace is pronounced -- a recurring conclusion in the series -- fail to endear itself, at least a little, to viewers of faith.
The film contains frequent gunplay and hand-to-hand combat but with little gore, brief partial nudity, a marital bedroom scene, an adultery theme, several uses of profanity, a few milder oaths, a single rough and many crude terms and an obscene gesture. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
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Mulderig is on the staff of Catholic News Service.
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CAPSULE REVIEW
"The Fate of the Furious" (Universal)
Grown viewers willing to kick reality to the curb will have fun with this preposterous but lively auto-themed action adventure, the seventh sequel to 2001's "The Fast and the Furious." Blackmailed by an elusive criminal mastermind (Charlize Theron) whose cyber skills keep her virtually untraceable, the leader (Vin Diesel) of a team of car racers -- which includes his wife (Michelle Rodriguez) and a former federal agent (Dwayne Johnson) -- turns on his friends and aids the villain in her bid for world domination. Director F. Gary Gray and screenwriter Chris Morgan put loyalty (even under strain) first and safety last as their globetrotting ensemble, which also includes Jason Statham as a now-imprisoned veteran of Britain's special forces, hunts down an opponent so powerful she has her own AWACS-style airplane. Doses of humor and clever resourcefulness help to divert attention from dicey us-against-the-world moral values, though the sketchy ethics do come tricked out with distinctly Christian detailing. Not a film for impressionable youngsters. Frequent gunplay and hand-to-hand combat but with little gore, brief partial nudity, a marital bedroom scene, an adultery theme, several uses of profanity, a few milder oaths, a single rough and many crude terms, an obscene gesture. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
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CLASSIFICATION
"The Fate of the Furious" (Universal) -- Catholic News Service classification, A-III -- adults. Motion Picture Association of America rating, PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
