Furious 7 (AKA Fast & Furious 7)

Dir: James Wan

2015

***

The seventh film of the Fast & Furious franchise sees a new director in the shape of James Wan and is all the better for it in my opinion. The story suffers from all the same things the previous films suffered from; poor acting, unbelievable story, misogynistic imagery, an overbearing feeling of smugness and the unfinished Thunderbirds doll that is Vin Diesel, but they have also upped their game somewhat. The audience is graced with all new action sequences never before seen in the franchise including skydiving cars, exploding car parks and a gloriously over the top stunt that sees a super-car driving through Dubai's Etihad towers in mid-air. Not a tank in sight I'm pleased to say. The family has been streamlined somewhat but the core members are present. Honorary family member Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson has a smaller part to play, probably because he had other commitments but I can't help but think they didn't want to feature him too much as he is easily the most interesting character of the series and not an original 'family' member. Number 7 can also boast the best bad-guy of the franchise so far but this is almost detrimental to the desired effect of the writers as Jason Statham is far more likable than any of the other actors put together. This seems to have been addressed by simply removing any dialogue from Statham's character. He is essentially a face in a car. It's another stupid addition to the franchise, one that should have finished after one film, let alone seven. So why do I keep returning to watch the next instalment? Apart from the fact I simply review movies I'm not really sure. I'm looking forward to seeing what they do next, I guess familiarity works. I also can't wait to see what stupid stunt they will try to pull next, sadly I think the next big trick they will have to pull off doesn't involve cars though. Paul Walker died before the film was completed and many of the scenes were re-written and filmed using his two brothers as stand-ins. The last segment of the film is actually a well-crafted and tender tribute to the actor that the cast and crew should be proud of. How the franchise will continue without him is uncertain but like everyone else, I'll be watching it. I have no idea how Furious 7 has become one of the highest grossing films of all time but well done to them, seventh attempts a charm and all that. At least the one thing that has always bothered me has now been corrected. It wasn't clear what The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift was about and how it fit into the other films, but now that it has been explained that Fast and Furious, Fast Five and Fast & Furious 6 all happened before and only Furious 7 has happened after, it finally makes sense. I feel I can move on and enjoy the other films more so now. It is nice to know that Lucas Black is back in the series and although the addition of Kurt Russel was odd and somewhat pointless, it was very welcome all the same. The best of the franchise so far.