This is another action-oriented blockbuster franchise that relies on identification with its characters to keep viewers interested in between all of the racing sequences and explosions.  To some degree it works.  Some of the more recent films in this series have been quite impressive.  This one, unfortunately, takes a big step backward.

F. Gary Gray’s film has several big action sequences but all of them are wildly contrived, clumsily executed and, at their worst, ridiculously unconvincing.  This is a film that thinks big, filled with stunts galore, giant wrecking balls, nuclear submarines run amok, cars plummeting out of buildings, gunfights in cities and on ice, etc., in areas around the globe.  The human story is meant to hold it together, so we have Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) betraying his “family” and going rogue, for a mysterious reason to be revealed later in the movie.  How exciting.

With Toretto working for the bad girl (Charlize Theron, with terrible hair) and Brian Conner nowhere in sight it is up to Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and Deckard (Jason Statham) to provide the muscle and set the world right again.  The regular crew is back, of course, but everyone takes a back seat to Hobbs, who is intent on stopping terrorism and beating Deckard to a pulp.  How exciting.

Movies like this depend on the human stuff, but it is inevitable that Toretto is going to return to the right side of the law, so there’s not a lot of dramatic tension.  Movies like this depend on their action, but virtually every big set piece is too big.  One has Toretto diving out of a flaming car speeding backward onto pavement without a scratch (the flames look fake).  Another has scores of cars remotely piloted through downtown New York City to trap a Russian diplomat (the car swarm looks fake).  Another has a battle on ice between military vehicles, our heroes’ cars, trucks and tanks, and a nuclear submarine (everything looks fake).  How exciting.

One sequence works for me, and that was Deckard working his way through an airplane full of hostiles, shooting or beating up an army of supposedly trained guards, all while carrying a baby in a carrier.  Jason Statham milks this sequence for all of its humor.  Otherwise this movie is another big, empty-headed action picture with little logic or sense.  At least Statham gets the chance to act; the talents of Johnson and Diesel (who famously clashed on the set) are muscle-bound.  ☆ 1/2.  25 May 2017.