By Susan JAMES

he implacable, invincible and slightly twinkly Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) is back again with his crack crew for the eighth installment of “The Fast and the Furious” franchise. Now celebrating 16 years of chases, races and general auto mayhem, the new installment is worthy of its pedigree. Directed by F. Gary Grey, whose 2015 “Straight Outta Compton” had a raw immediacy, the director and the material are a good match. The franchise has always thrived on a mix of homeboy naturalness, wry humor and sentimental bro-ness. What makes it appealing to women is that the bro-ness has been extended to the sisters as well.

The movie opens with a breathtaking race-you-for-your-wheels drag race through downtown Havana that marks a busy day in the happy honeymoon of Dom and Letty (Michelle Rodriguez). For all its focus on cars and the boys and girls who drive them, it is the relationships that have kept “The Fast and the Furious” ticking all these years. Originally it was Dom’s relationship with undercover agent Brian O’Conner (the late Paul Walker) that was the heart of the beast but the creators have done a good job in rolling that relationship over into Dom’s fraternal sparring with latecomer Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) while keeping close tabs on his interactions with Letty and the rest of his team. Or, as he would say, his family.

Honeymoon interrupted, Dom is cornered by a blond siren called Cipher (Charlize Theron), who puts unexplained pressure on him to betray his team and work for her in a nefarious plot that focuses on nuclear weapons and nuclear codes. For all its streamlined, hard-edged efficiency, the movie comes to a grinding halt every time Theron is on screen. Mesmerizing as the fury in “Mad Max: Fury Road,” here her fury is the gooey center that gums up the engine. An amped up take on a retro Bond villain (think Pussy Galore in black leather), she flaunts Bo Derek blond Rastafarian locks and drips sexual innuendo. We’re never quite sure what her goal is. World domination? But what does that even mean? The performance is so unconvincing next to Dom’s stoic inscrutability that it’s jarring. This is especially true when Helen Mirren swans in for a brief cameo and offers a master class in how to hold the screen with only two scenes.

Each member of the team, from young computer hacker Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel) to bickering bros Roman (Tyrese Gibson) and Tej Parker (Ludacris), is given a moment or two to shine and, veterans that they are, they take full advantage of it aided by a script that, Cipher apart, is warm, witty and winning. New member of the team Little Nobody, played by Scott Eastwood, does his best to fill the gaping hole left by Paul Walker but doesn’t quite pull it off. Maybe next time, as there are two upcoming films now in the works.

Crashing, burning, spinning, turning and good clean violence makes for an action film that keeps pulses racing in time with the revving engines. Added extra: a special appearance by a Russian Akula-class nuclear submarine. No drivers need apply.

See you at the movies!

  susan james