James Wan’s Furious 7 (2015) Movie Review
Movie Review: Fast & Furious 7
Director: James Wan
Starring: Vin Diesel, Jason Statham, Dwayne Johnson, Kurt Russell, Michelle Rodriguez, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Djimon Hounsou and Lucas Black.
Censor Certificate: A
Time: 2 hours and 17 minutes
“There’s never goodbye” – Dom
Furious Seven, the most hyped film in the Fast & Furious series. Part of that is due to the tragic death of Paul Walker, who died in a car accident before shooting had been completed. As is to be expected Walker character gets an emotional send off in the movie and the other is due to the fact people are enjoying its silly, mindless, crazy entertainment these films can offer.
“Those who are lost go on in the hearts of the living”
As most of you know the story. Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his family of racing experts are back. After the events at Furious 6, Dominic and his team are enjoying a hard-earned retirement, putting their crook lives behind them, so they thought. Uber baddie Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) is seeking retaliation against Dominic and his family for the precipitation of his brother Owen Shah (Luke Evans). Shaw is one man army who will stop at nothing seeking his avenge. After the tragic death of Han (Sung Kang), Giselle (Gal Gadot) its upto Dominic, Brian (Paul Walker), Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), Hobbs (The Rock) and rest of the team to get to Shaw before he kills someone from his family again.
The latest installment of Fast & Furious franchise, is aptly titled Furious 7 (As Dom says, “This time it ain’t about being Fast”) visits Azerbaijan mountains, Abu Dhabi, before bringing everything back to home where it all started, Los Angeles. Director James Wan known for his horror films (Insidious & The Conjuring) takes over directing rules from Justin Lin, while Chris Morgan returns as the screen writer. Justin Lin refreshed the series with Fast Five and Furious 6, which focused more the characters, team effort, and larger set of pieces and plot that had less racing. James Wan taken some notes as Furious 7 is in line with the style of last two films, though I would say it is a bit less successful than Fast Five.
Lin Presented some of the most inane action ever committed in last two films, yet some of it was still lightly believable in ways and worked off as operable plot that weren’t great either but got the job done (they could have worked a bit on the believable chase sequences rather forcing breaking the laws of physics). James Wan turns Furious 7 into a live action animation with completely unbelievable action and story that completely globe-trot and gets little messy. Director tries to utilize too much of other shots, like shots of female bums, comedy angle from Roman (Tyrese Gibson) and a hand-to-hand combat. With the amplified runtime, Wan’s narration of the material becomes so ridiculous and exhausting by the film finale. Furious 7 keeps the nuts and bolts of the franchise intact, so those who will likely love this one and those who hate will find nothing to change their minds.
Coming to other technical aspects, Cinematography by Marc Spicer & Stephen F Windon is perfect, the way Azerbaijan Mountain chase and C -130 Car Dive were shot deserves a special applause. Editing by (Leigh Folsom Boyd, Dylan Highsmith, Kirk M. Morri & Christian Wagner) could have been crispier and better. Paul Walker’s CGI was pretty good. Background Score suited the feel of this racing saga.
The cast in the film has a decent chemistry, especially the scenes between Ludacris and Tyrese Gibson, who always able to pull off a laugh, plus it’s nice to Kurt Russel in a decent role as Mr. No Body. Paul Walker’s sendoff is refined for both the characters and the audience his character will be missed. Vin Diesel looks firm and obstinate on screen. Vin Diesel and Michelle Rodriguez have something interesting to do on screen, but writer fails to elevate the emotional bonding between the characters and club the family together. Jason Statham & Dwayne Johnson are fine in their roles.
“Furious 7” is loud, absurd, over long, over stuffed with too many characters and stuffs. James Wan is definitely no Justin Lin when it comes to directing a fast action entertainer and comes dangerously close to Michael Bay’s entertainment. Epilogue is a fitting tribute to bequest of Paul Walker. It actually does something super moving for Brian’s character and it’s the only moment of affection that did work on me. All in all, Mindless fun takes a lot of skill and this is the proof of that. Too much of Dumbness ruins the fun and makes franchise take a step backward with Furious 7.
Survi Review: 2/5 (rated 0.5 more for the Paul Walker’s Tribute)
But the main question remains: With a cagy definitive ending, will this be the end of the franchise? Nope. Universal studious knows the solid following the franchise has and know the fans will keep coming back no matter what they cook further. Hope, they get down to earth for some real car chases and provide some real thrills with their next one in the franchise.
My favourites of the series – Fast Five > The Fast and the Furious > Furious 7 > Fast & Furious > Fast & Furious 6 > The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift > 2 Fast 2 Furious.
Rest in Peace Mr. Paul Walker.
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