"Furious 7" Review

No other series of films in the history of modern cinema have been able to do what the Fast and Furious franchise has done. That is, they only get better as they go, and every sequel seems to make hundreds of millions of dollars more than its predecessor.

Sure, the movies have gotten progressively bigger and arguably "dumber," as most of today's blockbuster franchises do. But series writer Chris Morgan began truly embracing the silliness after Fast & Furious, the series' 4th film. Starting with Fast Five, I think things got so crazy that it was easier to suspend disbelief and begin taking these films simply at face value. Since then, Morgan and director Justin Lin never tried to make these movies into anything other than what they were: mega-budget, Hollywood blockbusters chock-full of death/physics-defying stunts. Sometimes that's all you need, and nobody else in the studio system today has figured out how to make it work across this many films the way Universal Pictures has.

Now at its seventh (seventh!) sequel, which is on track for a worldwide opening  north of $300 million, the Fast & Furious movies show no signs of slowing down. Furious 7 has of course been marred by tragedy and controversy surrounding the sudden death of Paul Walker over Thanksgiving weekend in 2013. The film was almost entirely scrapped before the creative team decided to finish it in Paul's honor. I'm glad they were able to pull it together, because Furious 7 is the wildest ride that this franchise has yet taken us on.

It also has a strong emotional core that would be there even if Walker hadn't died. Since the contrary is sadly true, Furious 7 stands above its predecessors as the one with the biggest heart. That's rare in a studio picture like this. Seriously, by the end, you'll need an entire box of tissues. They couldn't have sent Walker off in finer fashion. It's just perfect. Lend your ear to the soundtrack single "See You Again" by Wiz Khalifa & Charlie Puth if you want to get a sense of the tone I'm alluding to here:

I can never keep my cool listening to this song.

Beware of some spoilers in these next two paragraphs!!!!!!

The story here finds the "family" as the object of a manhunt by Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham), the big brother of Owen Shaw (Luke Evans) from Fast & Furious 6. Deckard's a bit upset with Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and the rest of the team for "crippling" his little brother and putting him in a coma. With Shaw and his terrorist associates Jakande (Djimon Hounsou) and Kiet (Tony Jaa) hot on their tails, the family is called into action by a shady government official (Kurt Russell) to help find a computer hacker who can unlock a weapon called "God's Eye" which turns any electronic device into a weapon. The family plans to use the "God's Eye" in order to stay a step ahead in the fight against Shaw. 

Statham is a welcome addition to the cast and brings the kind of physical ability that these movies have needed for awhile. But I'm disappointed with how one-note Deckard Shaw is. Neither is he as menacing as his baby brother Owen, nor does Statham give a performance that matches or exceeds Evans' in F&F 6. Deckard is the kind of villain who just occasionally shows up to try and ruin everyone's day. But between Statham and Jaa, there are plenty of spectacular fight scenes. Statham has a hand in most of the big set pieces while Jaa's highlights include two hand-to-hand fight scenes with Brian O'Connor (Paul Walker).

Ok, no more spoilers!

I should mention that Lin has moved on from the director's chair and has passed the franchise to horror auteur James Wan (Saw, The Conjuring, Insidious). I don't know what sort of crash course Wan took to prepare himself for directing the outrageous set pieces in this film, but he pulls it off perfectly with a seamless transition from being one of the top directors of mainstream horror to a director with an exciting eye for stunts and action/thriller set pieces. If Universal moves forward with Fast & Furious 8, 9, and 10, I hope he gets the job. If not, I'd be excited to see what Wan does next with his keen sensibilities for action on this scale.

The way I see it, if you're a fan of action movies, you'll love Furious 7. You'll laugh, cry, and frequently find yourself at the edge of your seat. This is a big, loud movie with a heart that demands to be seen on the big screen. Movies like this don't really come along as often as we think they do, and Furious 7 is a perfect example of why I, for one, still love going out to the theaters.

A-