James Wan (The Conjuring) takes the wheel for the latest in the Fast & Furious series, Furious 7.
Brian, Dom, Letty, and the rest of the crew are back. After taking care of Owen Shaw in Fast & Furious 6, the crew is trying to settle down and keep it low key for a while. Well, little did anyone know, Owen had an older brother who is quite protective of him and wants revenge. Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham, The Transporter) is furious (see what I did there) about what happened to his little brother and decides to take out revenge by trying to kill off our beloved band of misfits one by one. This revenge plot seems to be where the film is leading, until we take a sharp left turn into crazy town. Deckard is ex-military and has pretty much become a ghost, so the crew doesn't know where he is or when he'll strike. They're pretty defenseless. Enter another ghost, who's actually currently in the military. Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell, The Thing), is a government agent who is trying to rescue a kidnapped hacker named Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel). She's created a program called God's Eye which can hack into any and all electronic devices in the world with a camera or microphone. Perfect for locating the ever elusive Deckard. Because for some reason the military is not capable of doing this themselves (?), Mr. Nobody seeks out the aid of the F& F crew to help retrieve Ramsey and her program. In return, he will let them use the God's Eye to find Deckard. This leads to traveling the world, dropping cars from planes, crashing through the air between skyscrapers, and finally an all out war between the crew, the kidnapper (Djimon Hounsou, Guardians of the Galaxy), and Deckard that pretty much levels half of LA.
If you've seen the rest of the Fast & Furious series, I'm going to guess you've already decided whether you're going to see this or not regardless of this review. If you haven't seen the rest of the series, I recommend it for some good adrenaline pumping fun. There's a couple misfires in there, but for the most part it's a good time that just progressively gets better. When the series started, it could get a little ridiculous, but still managed to stay low key. By the time six rolled around, they were driving a tank down the interstate and holding a cargo plane down with a group of sports cars. If you're more inclined towards the craziness of the last two films, then this one will not disappoint. It takes all the crazy from 5 and 6 and throws in a couple kitchen sinks.
Furious 7 almost goes too far with the insanity.....almost. It ends up giving just the right amount. Does most of it seem completely implausible? Hell yes. Do you enjoy every last second of the action anyway? Hell yes. The God's Eye storyline is a bit much, but you just have to accept it because it is the catalyst for all the crazy stunts they do with the cars. This is James Wan's first crack at this series (and only his second non-horror feature), and I think he does a fine job with it. There are a few lengthy fight scenes because Jason Statham and Ronda Rousey are in it. They all seemed fairly well filmed and choreographed. Also, tension is a big part of both action and horror, but in different ways. Wan has now proven he can do both. Most of the stunts are utterly ridiculous, but Wan does so well with developing tension that I found myself forgetting that and sitting on the edge my seat wondering if they were gonna make it. This was the longest movie in the franchise and yet there were very few gaps in the action, so it felt like the quickest.
The actors in this film are a big part of what makes it work as well. There is definitely some talent in there, but I wouldn't go out and say they are all great actors. What they do have though is genuine chemistry. Most of them have been doing this since the first couple of films, and it shows. Even when the dialogue is hokey, they all seem to genuinely be having a good time just hanging out with each other, and that makes it work. As for the newcomers, I didn't think Ramsey brought much to the table. She felt like a third wheel since she was a hacker and they already have Tej for that role. Jason Statham was a lot of fun as a kick-ass bad guy. The best newcomer would be Mr. Nobody though. He and Dom played off of each other well. I'd really like to see him return in any future installments (which you know there will be), since, sadly, Paul Walker is no longer with us. As for Walker, he was never bad, but he was also never the greatest actor in the world. What he did have though, was charisma and just a naturally likeable personality that came through in his performances. He'll be missed, and I think he left us on a high note with his performance in this film. Without spoiling anything, I'll just say that they also give him a touching send-off at the end of the film that just felt perfect.
The story and the stunts are both absurd, but you just can't help enjoying yourself at this movie. Between this and Kingsman: The Secret Service, the popcorn-poppin' action flicks have been a whole lot of fun so far this year. I'm ready for the summer blockbusters.
Rating: ********-- (8 out of 10) [matinee]
Memorable Quote:
Dom: This time it ain't just about being fast.
