Furious 7 – Review
Welcome to the close of another week my people! Last night I got to check out the stunts spectacular that is the Fast and The Furious franchise. This is the 7th installment in the film and stars Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, & Dwayne Johnson. Let’s dig in to the spectacle that is Furious 7
Furious 7 pretty much picks up where Fast & Furious 6 left off bringing Shaw down. Dominic and his crew get back to a level of normalcy after their fight with mercenaries and bringing Lettie (Michelle Rodriguez) home. Han leaves for Tokyo after losing Giselle to gain peace, spawning the events of Fast & Furious Tokyo Drift.
If you saw FF6 then you know what happens to lead to the events of Furious 7. Shaw’s brother, Deckard, kills Han in a horrible accident and calls Dominic, vowing to take him and the rest of his crew down. Deckard sends a bomb to Dominic’s to let him know just how serious Deckard is (this all shown in the trailer no spoilers here). That specific moment kick starts the crew back into action for one last ride. A ride to protect the family they’ve built.
Furious 7 was an amazing thrill ride from start to finish. I left the theater fully satisfied with the story that they gave me. You have to understand, if you’re a fan of the film franchise, you’re going there for the incredible stunts, hard hitting fight choreography, and the amusing comedic dialogue between Roman (Tyrese Gibson) and Tej (Chris “Ludacris” Bridges). You don’t require Oscar award winning acting because, you’re to busy laying back and having fun with this action-thriller. That being said, the performances were decent enough nothing to clap about, but it did enough to carry the story-line through.
The stunts! Oh, the stunts! How incredible they were. I was surprised at how upset some of the audience members were at how ridiculous the stunts were, but that’s the franchise! I have no idea what you were hoping to see, but I know I didn’t come here to see cars do what they normally do, I came here to see cars skydiving, cliff diving, and just be an overall extension of the characters. I got all that an more. The wrecks were brutal and the saves were out of this world. It’s all the fun of superhero movies without having the obvious characteristics of being a superhero.
The Rock definitely breathes life into any franchise he enters, and he certainly did it for this one. His introduction into the franchise almost doubled the total sells (box office and DVD sales). It was, weird to see him not in this as much, but we got to see him in action and when he does come back on the scene, he makes a considerable entrance. His one liners were all perfect and matches his personality brilliantly.
A lot may find this a weakness of the franchise, but I love the dynamic between Lettie and Dom. In Furious 7, Lettie is still trying to remember her life before her amnesia and it causes a bit of strain on their relationship and it allows for some real moments of exchange between the two.
Brian (Paul Walker) is going through the transition from being one of Dom’s crew to being a father and a husband. He’s adjusting, but you can tell his character misses the thrill of it all. The way they handle that character is phenomenal and gives way to one of the most touching in memoriams I’ve ever seen. I had to hold back the tears. My feeling about this mainly rises out of the fact that I felt Paul Walker was on his way to some big things. If you haven’t already, check out the movie Hours. The film pushed his acting chops to the limit and really gave way to an intense and emotional drama about a Father love for his newborn daughter as he helps them survive through Hurricane Katrina.
If you couldn’t tell already, I really enjoyed this film. For the fun it was, for the themes of family & loyalty. Everyone should go see this film. It was a thrill.