I have been a huge fan of "The Fast and The Furious" since The Buster first uttered “Dude, I almost had you,” 16 years ago. I’ve seen all the movies, except for "Tokyo Drift." Let’s be honest, nobody really counts "Tokyo Drift" as a "Fast and Furious" movie, because none of the original cast was in it. Oh, and don’t give me that “Vin Diesel makes a cameo at the end” crap. IT DOES NOT COUNT! I am so in love with these movies that when the Limited-Edition Blu-Ray with all seven of the movies was announced I pre-ordered that bad boy and made sure I had it in my hands on release day.

So, when Paul Walker died during the filming of the seventh movie, my heart was broken. I was overwhelmed with how many of my favorite memories from middle school through college involved him and these movies. I understood the studio’s decision to continue filming "Furious 7", but was completely appalled by the decision to make an eighth movie. I initially had no intentions of ever seeing "The Fate of The Furious". However, when my mom told me that her company was having a private screening of the movie before it was released, I thought “what the hell it’s free”; I could bend my rules and watch a Walker-less "Fast and Furious" movie.

The first thing that bothered me about the move was the premise. After seven movies and 16 years of preaching that family is all that matters, were we honestly supposed to believe that Dominic Toretto would turn his back on his family and “go rogue”. Seriously that was 50 shades of lame and within less than 15 minutes of Dom going rogue, it’s obvious he is doing these tasks for Cipher because she has something or someone that Dom is determined to get home safely. Is it Mia, his nephew, someone in the crew, who knows, but it is obvious that it is someone in his family and Dom wasn’t seduced by a mystery woman to return to his old ways like the previews and write ups would have you believe.

The second and probably the HUGEST issue for me, revolves around The Buster. In the movie’s first and only race sequence, Dom races his nephew's piece of crap car against some Cuban gangster’s completely restored vintage vehicle (Gear Heads forgive me. I know absolutely nothing about cars, but I love racing movies), to settle his nephew’s debt. Who knew Mia and Dom had another sibling with a teenage kid in Cuba. I always thought it was just Dom and Mia, yet there is a slight chance they may have mentioned other siblings in "The Fast and The Furious." Anyway, let’s not get sidetracked by the Toretto family tree, and let’s focus on The Buster aka Brian O’Connor. Dom uses a trick he learned from The Buster, which will help him win the race, but not before the car bursts into flames and nearly explodes.

Maybe it’s just me, but I found it a little insensitive that they chose a trick from The Buster that would cause the car to burst into flames, when we all know in real life The Buster, Paul Walker, burned to death in a car. It didn’t seem to bother anyone else in the theater, but the association hit a little too close to home for my liking. What I did find enduring was they refrained from saying Brian’s name throughout the majority of the movie. His actual name is said three times during the movie and if he is mentioned he is referred to as The Buster. My best guess is that Universal and the writers thought if they referred to Brian by the nickname that he earned in the first movie, and rarely used any of the other movies, it would keep people from asking “What happened to Brian?”

If that was their reasoning, it was a dumb ploy. I have personally encountered several vehicles with bumper stickers that read: REMEMBER THE BUSTER, and yes, my eyes got misty and I may have randomly yelled my favorite Brian O’Conner quotes. Don’t judge me, and definitely don’t underestimate the fans. That brings us to the big question: “What happened to Brian?” Oh, nothing happened to Brian. He and Mia are off living the dream and raising their family and the crew promised not to involve them in anything else. ARE YOUR KIDDING ME!!

The most essential character to the franchise is off living happily ever after and has basically turned his back on family. I was livid. It took everything in me not to scream pejorative words at the screen and walk out. I feel that Universal copped out and took the easy way out. I can picture them in some glassed-in conference room on the 37^th floor of some building saying, “If we just pretend that Brian is still alive, we can still make more movies.” I think it was a lame and low move. I guess I always just assumed that this movie would be about avenging Brian’s death and letting the franchise end. Isn’t it funny how when a studio doesn’t want to deal with an actor anymore they kill off the character, but when the actor dies or quits unexpectedly, they just pretend that the character is alive somewhere else or just cast another actor to play that character as if nobody would notice. ("Bewitched", "Threes Company", "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" I’m calling you out.) Again, maybe it’s just me and my 16-year connection to these characters that wanted more. From middle school through college, Paul Walker and these movies have been at the center of some of my fondest memories. I thought The Buster deserved more.

Aside from these two major drawbacks, "The Fate of the Furious" was your typical "Fast and Furious" movie. The antagonist from the previous movie must work with Dom and the crew to take down an even more sinister character and is later treated as part of the family. I did notice that this movie focused more on computer hacking and hand to hand combat more than actual driving stunts, and some of those stunts pushed believability to its limits. For example, the biggest chase scene took place in Manhattan, where for some strange reason there was absolutely no traffic.

The movie did contain some great comedic moments. The Rock, Jason Statham, Tyrese, and Luda carried the movie with their banter. Michelle Rodriguez was great at brooding and kicking ass when necessary. The rest of the cast was easily forgettable and it seemed like they just filled the cast with “names” to make up for all of the energy and charisma that Paul Walker brought to the movies. Scott Eastwood was a horrible addition to the cast. The only purpose he served was to fill a demographic quota. Take a way one blond hair, blue-eyed actor and replace him with another. I’m not even going to comment on his actual performance because I don’t think any actor could have made that character work. I feel that his addition was just another attempt by the studio to leave an opening for another movie.

"The Fate of the Furious" ended as most of the movies in the franchise typically end. There was one last touching tribute to Brian and then it was over. It wasn’t the way that I thought the series should have ended, but it did have enough finality in the last scene to bring closure to the fans and officially conclude the franchise. In my opinion, "The Fate of the Furious" was a bad idea from the start and shouldn’t have been made. The strain and tension was evident in all “the crews” faces and the actual thrill that these movies typically provide was gone. Even though the movie had its happy ending, it is all too obvious that the fate of the furious is doomed. I just hope Universal sees it and lets The Buster and his crew rest in peace.