“Fate of the Furious 8”IS PEDAL TO THE Metal Fun!

Eight chapters in, the “Fast and Furious” franchise is now a fantasy fulfillment factory. Anything you can dream up — as long as it involves cars, dudes and speeches about loyalty — it can produce; the more ridiculous the better. Want to see a fleet of cars get chased across a frozen lake by a Russian submarine? Have a seat, friend.

“The Fate of the Furious” is a wildly entertaining thrill ride that never lets its foot off the gas.“Fate” — as in F8, get it? — is super-stuffed with stunts, machismo and character moments from its gigantic cast, which is now the size of a small community. This franchise is like a snowball rolling down a hill that keeps collecting new trinkets along the way, in this case cast members. So now, in addition to cast vets Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Tyrese Gibson and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, there’s also Jason Statham (who appeared in “Fast & Furious 6” but officially debuted in “Furious 7”) and Kurt Russell (who arrived in “Furious 7”), along with newbies Scott Eastwood, Helen Mirren and Charlize Theron. The series is employing half of Hollywood.