Furious 7 - Review

"One last ride."

At this point, we know those words are bull shit. But to me, this is the perfect last ride for this franchise.... But it won't be.

The Plot

The sins of London from their previous job follows the crew home, as they are hunted by a ruthless assassin (Jason Statham). Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker), Letty Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez), Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson) and Tej Parker (Ludacris) ban together once again to combat an enemy capable of taking down their former nemesis, Agent Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson). But to turn the hunter into the hunted, they must strike a deal with the mysterious Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell) in order to find the means to track down their untraceable foe.

Review

Ever since Fast Five steered this franchise into full blown action adventure genre and out of the very niche car racing genre, the movie going audience has become thankful ever since. And with this Seventh installment, we go into over the top territory with every single action movie cliche thrown in to make a satisfying cocktail of fast cars, manly fights, sexy women and most importantly: Family.

But things start immediately introducing us to the film's big bad, Deckard Shaw, played menacingly by Jason Statham. He's pretty much an evil James Bond with the cool cars and gadgets to enforce his cause. Deckard is a completely different animal compared to his brother Owen, the previous film's antagonist played by Luke Evans. From the very opening scene, we are immediately shown just how dangerous Statham's Deckard is, by how far he was willing to see his comatose brother in a heavily guarded hospital. Deckard is definitely the best villain this franchise has created, despite the fact that he only shows up when an action scene is necessary. That's where Dom and his crew come in.

By now, Diesel's Dom, Rodriguez's Letty, Walker's Brian, Gibson's Roman, and Ludacris's Tej have solidified themselves as extremely likable characters. And it helps, because the plot gets a little confusing later on, but luckily we have so many likable characters that make this incoherent plot watchable. However it is pretty clear that a lot of emotions were running high or stirring beneath each cast member, given the circumstances of losing one of their own before production of the film wrapped. Everyone in the main crew is delivering their A-game in acting for this film. Especially Jordana Brewster who plays Mia, sister to Diesel's Dom and wife to Walker's Brian. Her role may have been minimal, but she had the difficulty of delivering some dramatic dialogue to someone who is no longer with them. They're not Oscar worthy performances, but they are the best these actors have given in this type of film. All to honor their late co-star.

The handling of Paul Walker's passing in this film is definitely one of the highlights of the movie. It was treated with respect, yet it also shows how difficult it was to create something coherent when a major player in the film has to be slightly sidelined or shot in weird angles in order to get his side of the story across. But with what Walker's brothers, Caleb and Cody, could do by standing in his place and Weta Digital for placing Paul's face over their's, it all worked out in the end. Especially for the final moment in the film. But it is pretty obvious that it hurt the plot of the film, as it was definitely all over the place at times, but still finds a way to stay a little bit on course.

The action is as spectacular as ever, though this may also prove to be a growing weakness of the franchise for later films to come. This film pulled off some amazing set pieces involving cars, but the danger has become too heightened to the point where it becomes apparent that no one is going to die if they're in a car. And while new director James Wan is new to action, his car sequences are amazing, but his hand to hand combat sequences could use some work. They were not shaky cam, but they were rapidly editing almost to an unrelenting point of not being able to tell what is going on, that it might as well have been shot with shaky cam. They are still spectacular action, but it is obvious that this is the work of a director who hasn't fully grasped how to shoot action yet. But perhaps someday he'll fully engage in it.

While the film is ridiculously dumb fun that doesn't take itself too seriously, something the Transformers films should learn how to do, there are several negatives. The first being the plot. What started out as a simple revenge movie turned into the hunt for a MacGuffin in a government conspiracy movie. Yes, it is awesome to have Kurt Russell as a new badass character. And yes... Nathalie Emmanuel makes a God damn fine ass hacker in a bikini. But their involvement, along with the terrorists played by Djimon Hounsou and Tony Jaa, completely derails what could've been a simple straight forward plot like the previous two films. It could've been a simple horror movie on wheels with Statham's Deckard hunting down Dom's crew one by one till there is a final face off. And while that does happen, the government conspiracy plot looked more like a means to keep everyone alive and useful than have any real danger for the characters.

Then there is Brewster's Mia and Dwayne Johnson's Hobbs. Both of them are heavily important characters in the franchise, but only show up at the beginning and end of the film. Johnson's Hobbs, arguably the character that helped save the franchise in Fast Five was heavily missed as part of the team. But when he comes back into action, he does bring in the cavalry. One could only wish for more of him and Mia, and less of Ronda Rousey's attempt at acting. Yeah, she was only in one scene in the movie, but her acting was so bad that it stuck out in a movie that should be dumb fun. And the ending does enter superhero blockbuster final battle territory, which kind of felt out of place, but it's still pretty awesome!

Final Thoughts

It's really hard to truly be mad at any of the bad things in this film because it is definitely the most fun out of the re-energized franchise. I will say that it is the most rewatchable film in the franchise, but Fast Five and Fast Six are definitely the better films. But what this film does have to offer is a terrifying villain, spectacular action, melodrama about family, and most importantly of all: a touching and very appropriate send off to someone who is considered the most nicest man in Hollywood, Paul Walker.

SCORE: 8/10 - This movie should not work, but thankfully it did. RIP PAUL WALKER