As someone who hadn't seen another Fast & Furious movie until now, watching this movie has definitely managed to get my investment into the series. When I first watched the trailer, I honestly was thinking to myself that it was pure action porn, with some hardcore racing mixed in as well. But upon watching the film, I was already able to find myself getting invested in the story as well as the characters. Ultimately, however, I was only able to find a single major flaw with my enjoyment of the film.
And that flaw was rather something of my own fault. I was thinking in the back of my mind, that if I had watched all of the previous films up until this point, I would be able to great appreciate the dynamics and the characters and references they were making. But no the less, these references never really felt out of out place, coming into the film with no understanding of the world that they have already built up, I never felt lost or confused. The plot was easy to follow, and the characters were written well enough that I could understand their motivations and their relationships. For the most part at least, while some minor characters don't get as much screen time, it didn't feel very distracting from the main plot. However, sometimes the plot does have a few holes open which do feel generally unresolved by the time it ends.
Notably, I thought the acting in the film was enjoyable and felt right as the scope that was being set up. I found myself enjoying every second of Charlize Theron who played Cipher. While I'm going to go ahead and claim it's Oscar-worthy, I believed every second she was on screen. But I should not go on without saying anything else about the cast. The actors stayed to true to the characters, and nothing felt "unnatural" per say.
One thing that I found myself really loving was the effects. They looked simply spectacular, although you can only do so many explosions and car crashes until you want to see something new. But throughout the movie, they did get creative in the ways these happens. Ranging from everything to a submarine to that of a soda clip contributing to a different sort of crash. However, the cinematography in the movie was something I was really enjoying too. All the shots felt dramatic and appropriate for the tone they were setting up.
Even though I haven't seen any other movies in the series, I do find myself wanting to watch the other films just see how they are connected to this movie and were able to establish the world they had built up. It's not the film of the year, but it's something I really found myself enjoying, and likely want to be watching again for a second viewing if I ever wanted to see something full of action.
