By Mike McCarthy
Action packed and emotional doesn’t even begin to describe the latest installment in the Fast and Furious, Furious 7. Whether you have been a fan from the beginning or just checking it out to see how they decided to end Paul Walker’s character’s run in the films, you will be pleasantly surprised. The tribute to the passing of Paul Walker at the end has left very few dry eyes in the theaters, including ours.
The series returns to where it all started, back to Los Angeles and it seemed fitting. Obviously it wasn’t known ahead of shooting, that the passing of Walker would change the context of the film, but having it in LA made everything seem a little more nostalgic and bringing it back to the beginning. The location isn’t just the reason for the bring back, but the core four of Dom (Vin Diesel), Letty ( Michelle Rodriguez), Mia (Jordana Brewster) and Brian ( Paul Walker) also with bringing back Race Wars as well as a cameo of Hector from the original film. Bringing in Jason Statham, Kurt Russell and Nathalie Emmanuel to the star-studded franchise fills in the holes that were left when Gal Gadot and Sung Kang left after Fast 6.
The emotionality that had been written into this installment is phenomenal and really hammers home the family feelings that the other films had imprinted in them. With Letty trying to cope with not being able to remember her full relationship, it makes you really feel wholeheartedly that the film is heading more towards a drama then an action film. I have no problem with the changing of the definition of the film, it brings more of a change to the categorization and entices a more diverse group of viewers. Brian is trying to become the stay home dad that brings his son to school in a minivan. With everything that he is gone thru in the series, it is very hard to see him settle into that role, and his family takes notice. This leads us towards it being Brian’s final film, even before Walker’s horrible accident that stalled filming.
The film definitely has the prototypical one-liners that the series is known for, especially from Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson), Tej ( Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges) and Roman (Tyrese Gibson). The action sequences are not to be missed, from the fight between Letty and a prince’s personal bodyguard (Ronda Rousey) in dresses to Dom and Brian driving a 3.4 million dollar supercar out a window 50+ stories up between 3 different buildings. Now some people say that women that lift and are muscular can’t be sexy, well those people have never seen either of these two gorgeous ladies in a dress before, because they fill them out perfectly and make it look easy.
Adding Jason Statham to the mix as the older brother of Owen Shaw was a great choice. Bringing in this charismatic action hero to be the villain made perfect sense, and added more depth to the cast. The fights that he had with Hobbs and Dom were incredible hand to hand battles and the execution of both were spot on. With the added veteran skills of Kurt Russell as a pseudo addition to the team, it brought us back to when Russell was all about action back in Tango & Cash and Escape from New York.
The tribute to Paul Walker wasn’t only well deserved but amazingly performed. When he passed away the film was put on hiatus until the showrunners could decide on how to go about the film. By adding his two brothers to fill in for him in the remaining scenes, and using CGI they were able to finish it and give him the proper send off that he deserved. The send off at the end really solidified the film and the fact that it’s dedicated to Walker as well really makes the emotions run.
The chemistry that this film has between the actors, their roles makes the whole thing worthwhile. The action is on point, as it usually is in this film and it keeps you on the edge of your seat. The cars and drivers really take things to the next level, especially with Bugattis, Ferraris and a super car. Seeing how the passing of Walker really affected the cast when it happened and in all of the interviews since, really hits you and shows that family is really what it is all about, on and off the screen. This was in our opinion the best of the series, and will be hard to continue the series without Walker. There has already been talk of 2 more films, which might bring back Lucas Black’s character Sean Boswell from Tokyo Drift if the rumors are true. The film had the biggest April opening of all time with $146.5 Million domestically and $387.5 Million worldwide. Go see this movie, we highly recommend it and not only that, but a portion of the ticket costs go to Paul’s foundation: Reach Out Worldwide