Furious 7

Furious 7

Starring Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jason Statham, Dwayne Johnson

Directed by James Wan

Synopsis:
After they dealt with Owen Shaw (Luke Evans), Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his family feel like they can return to normal life.  However, Owen's older brother Deckard (Jason Statham) is out for revenge, and takes his opportunity to kill Han, and go after Dom and his family.

As they become hunted, they join forces with the mysterious Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell) to obtain a program called God's Eye that could locate anyone anywhere in the world within minutes.  The program is in the hands of the evil Jakande (Djimon Honsou), who has the program's designer Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel) captive.  Mr. Nobody promises Dom that if he can free her and get the program, they can use it to find Deckard.

As Dom, Brian (Paul Walker), Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) and the others set out across the globe to retrieve the program, they come into contact with Deckard at every turn, and time becomes the essence as they struggle to gain the upper hand, and prevent anyone else from dying.

Review:
"The Fast and the Furious" franchise is an unique thing.  Typically a sequel is worse than the original, and by the time it gets to seven, everyone knows it's time to stick a fork in it.  However, "The Fast and the Furious" has been able to re-invent itself from an underground group of street racers to international heroes, and as each subsequent sequel is released, it just gets better and better.

Well, mostly better.  The fifth film - for me anyway - still remains the best of the series.  That's not diminishing the sixth and especially the seventh installment, I just preferred the story in the fifth film more, plus it helped adding Dwayne Johnson to the stellar ensemble cast.

This seventh film, as much as I hate to say it, has increased in popularity due to Paul Walker's untimely death.  Much like Heath Ledger, this tragic real-life event transformed what was a great film into a must-see extravaganza, to honor the late actor's final performance.  It was definitely a moving tale, and a great way for Paul Walker to go out on, showcasing his acting chops as well as his limitless physical performance.  It added a new dimension to the series, giving it a new heart in the midst of basically absurd premises.

No one goes to these films to see strong character development, intellectual dialogue or an Oscar-worthy plot, and the "Furious" series knows this.  Instead they focus on the completely over-the-top and downright illogical action sequences (cars falling out of planes, cars flying through different buildings), and we as viewers are drawn to every frame because of the comradere between the cast, and their natural chemistry.  These are people you love, people you root for, and people you genuinely care for.  They have their own personalities and quirks that draw you in, and you can suspend your disbelief as you sit on the edge of your seat waiting for the next seemingly impossible thing to happen.

At it's heart, what "Furious" does extremely well is showcase the importance of family, even family that isn't blood related.  Dom, and everyone else in his group, do what they do because they genuinely care for each other, and they got each others' backs, no matter what.  Several times in the film the importance of family is mentioned, especially by Dom: "I don't got friends, I got family."

Sure, there's some major plot holes and stuff that didn't make sense (like why they were looking for a program to find Deckard when he was following them the entire time), but you didn't care.  You were drawn in from the first frame to last, and the emotional send-off to Paul Walker at the end was the icing on one of the most delicious cakes you'll ever eat.

Summary:
Sure it's over-the-top and filled with cheesy one-liners, but you can't deny the heart "Furious 7" has, and pulls you in for "one final ride."

My Rating: A