Given the chance to check it out a little bit earlier by MNet Movies, I couldn’t say no to an invitation to one of the biggest movies of the year. Many have asked this and probably still are – was there a need to do another one? How good is the latest offering in the franchise? Is this the last one or will be there be another offering in the series? Hopefully the analysis below will help answer most if not all of the above.

Cast – Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris Bridges, Nathalie Emmanuel, Kurt Russell, Scott Eastwood, Charlize Theron & Helen Mirren

Director – F. Gary Gray

Genre – Crime film/Thriller

Running Time –  2h16m

The Plot

Now that Dom (Vin Diesel) and Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) are on their honeymoon, Brian and Mia have retired from the game, and the rest of the crew has been exonerated, the globetrotting team has found a semblance of a normal life. But when a mysterious woman seduces Dom back into a world of crime that he can’t seem to escape, the crew will face trials that will test them as never before.

The plot above doesn’t give too much away and is too simplistic but when you mix it up with the trailer you can’t help but get giddy about the movie. But does it live up to the hype? Simple answer is an outstanding yes, the movie truly is a blockbuster worth checking out and lives up to the bill. The whole franchise has been taken to another level and has continued to evolve with each movie released in the series. Fast & Furious 8 is a well put together movie complete with non-stop action, crazy but impressive stunts and a bit of comedy here and there.

The movie truly is a blockbuster worth checking out and lives up to the bill.

Sure, the plot and how it’s set up might not be mind-blowing or original but its simplistic nature makes the whole offering easy to follow. The movie flows from one end to the other seamlessly and offers a bit of everything, Fast 8 might be the best in the whole franchise. There probably wasn’t a need to do another movie in the series however it’s still a winning formula and my money is on another one in the offing especially when you consider how it concluded which you’ll see for yourself.

In addition to the other regulars, our very own Charlize Theron joins the perfectly assembled cast in a slightly surprising role as the villain. When it was initially announced that she was set to become the villain, a part of me wasn’t too sure but, surprisingly, she pulls it off without any hiccups and is in fact one of the reasons why the whole offering is a fantastic watch. A great choice in character selection and very well executed.

Fast & Furious 8 is a great flick, I truly enjoyed it and no doubt just about everyone else will, regardless of whether or not you’ve been a fanboy/girl from the onset or not. It’s got almost everything you would want in a good action thriller and is guaranteed to have your attention throughout. A great watch, the movie gets a very cool 4.4 out 5 rating from me.

* Special shoutout to MNet Movies and Ster-Kinekor for a very cool screening, one of the best I’ve been to in a while!

Thanks to Ster-Kinekor this past weekend I got to see one of the hottest movie on circuit at the moment, Deepwater Horizon. What made this occasion more special was the fact that it was done in the all new and recently revamped cinema at Cresta Shopping Center. But wait there’s more, we got to see what is known as the “beautiful disaster” of a movie in Cine Prestige! Quite a great treat and experience it was which you can read more about later this week.

Onto the movie, I mentioned earlier that it is a “beautiful disaster” (a phrase I came across from one of the international reviews on the movie) and that’s probably the best way to describe it. So is that a good or bad thing you might ask? Let’s see. Deepwater Horizon is an American biographical disaster thriller film directed by Peter Berg, written by Matthew Sand and Matthew Michael Carnahan and starring Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, John Malkovich, Gina Rodriguez, Dylan O’Brien and Kate Hudson. It is based on the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Based on a true story, Deepwater Horizon comes hot on the heels of another movie I recently reviewed that’s also based on true events, Sully. Horizon though kind of makes Sully feel like a walk in the park with more heart wrenching and tense moments. Whilst watching you can’t help but wonder why people do such things…being in the middle of the ocean, nowhere really and you are drilling deep down the ocean where you can’t be too sure what lies down there? Even if it is for oil…I still don’t get it. Maybe it’s just me but then again, what do I know.

You might be safe in your theater seat when watching but you can’t help but feel the emotion. The filmmaking is outstanding in that respect. The only thing I will say though is it does take a while to get going with the first hour or so dedicated to introducing the characters and not much really going on but when you consider that it’s not that long of a watch it makes sense why they would do that.

The movie eases us through by focusing on the working-class crew on the oil rig, that include chief electrician Mike Williams (Mark Wahlberg) and dynamic positioning officer Andrea Fleytas (Gina Rodriguez). Once everybody’s aboard the rig, located 65 km off the coast of Louisiana and drilling 5,000 feet below sea level, the situation starts heating up and gets interesting – On the record, the current job is $53 million and 43 days over budget, crazy right? The workers – led by Jimmy “Mr Jimmy” Harrell (Kurt Russell) start feeling the pressure from BP (yip that one) bigwigs like Don Vidrine (John Malkovich), who are supposedly “visiting” to make sure things start moving more efficiently. With the pressure building there’s a need to start speeding things up with the right safety measures being ignored in the process. That then sets the scene for what’s to come and what the whole movie is centered on.

Cast – Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, John Malkovich, Gina Rodriguez, Dylan O’Brien, Kate Hudson

Genre – Biographical thriller

Director – Peter Berg

Running Time – 107 minutes

As always, not going to spoil it for you, what I will say is it’s a great movie and indeed a beautiful disaster that was well crafted and a great tribute to the lives that were lost (see below image for those and here for more info on the real story).

Deepwater Horizon gets a solid 3 out 5 rating from me.