Furious 7

In my review for Fast & Furious 6, I talked about how that movie is the start of a new story arc for the franchise. When thinking on the franchise initially, I considered Furious 7 to be the turning point of the series. In a lot of ways, it is. With the untimely passing of Paul Walker, the filmmakers needed to focus the main story more on Dom. However, this is just how they dealt with this tragic loss. Obviously, they needed to shift the focus of the franchise. Whatever they did with the story, it was going to feel like a major change. Despite all of that, it fits better for Fast & Furious 6 to be the kickoff of the second half of the franchise. Not only is there a stylistic shift with the action, it acts as a starting point for characters and events in later movies.

Released in 2015, Furious 7 starts off with Brian, Dom, and their crew living in peace after receiving full pardons. Brian is adjusting to life as a father, and Dom helps Letty regain her memory. However, this peace is threatened when Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham), Owen Shaw’s older brother, starts hunting them down for what they did to Own. When Dom is confronted by Deckard, their fight is interrupted by a covert ops team led by a mysterious agent simply known as Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell). He offers Dom an opportunity to track down Deckard by offering him access to a tracing program known as God’s Eye. In order to get that program, Dom and his crew must rescue its creator, Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel).

With director James Wan stepping in to lead this production, he had some big shoes to fill with what Justin Lin had done with the franchise at that point. I think it’s safe to say he succeeded with flying colors. This is especially impressive given James Wan is known as a horror movie director. His outing with this movie is his first attempt at an action movie. He came in with all kinds of ideas that he was able to execute. The stunts for this movie do a great job of improving upon any previous stunts. Additionally, they are much more focused on the cars. The main action scenes for Fast & Furious 6 tried to make things as big and explosive as possible. With Furious 7, everything focuses on making the cars the centerpiece of the scene, with a bus and a helicopter thrown in for good measure.

The two most notable set pieces for this movie are the convoy chase on the mountain and the car jump between three skyscrapers. If you can believe it, both of these sequences used practical effects in their production. At the beginning of the mountain scene, the team drops their cars from a cargo plane and parachutes onto the road. There are shots in this sequence where they actually had cars fly out of a plane. At the end, they actually drops a bus off a cliff. When Brian and Dom drive their car between the three skyscrapers, the production team constructed sets to get shots of the car crashing into and out of the buildings. All of these practical effects are blended perfectly with blue screen and CGI to make everything look like it actually happened. These scenes alone make this movie a standout in the series.

Another major highlight for this outing is all the fight scenes. This movie really steps up the number of fights, as well as the choreography. Now, having said that, these fights stretch the definition of reality more than the 26-mile runway in the previous movie. This isn’t actually because of the choreography, but more because of the characters that are fighting. Two of the more notable fights are Deckard vs. Hobbs and Letty vs. the Abu Dhabi prince’s head of security Kara, played by Ronda Rousey. In the Hobbs and Shaw fight, I find it hard to believe Jason Statham would be able to hold his ground against Dwayne Johnson. The same thing is true with the Letty and Kara fight, except that one is even more unbelievable. There’s no way Michelle Rodriguez is winning against Ronda Rousey, you know, one of the most well-known and successful UFC fighters. For me, these fights are the most unrealistic parts of the movie. I know Statham and Johnson both have contract clauses that state their characters can’t lose definitively, but that doesn’t change anything. Also, Ronda Rousey has probably the worst line deliveries in the whole franchise.

Even though this movie steps it up with the action, the same can’t really be said about the plot. This isn’t because it’s weak or confusing, but it feels like they just shoehorned Jason Statham into certain scenes because his character needed more screentime. A lot of his involvement makes the main focus of the plot irrelevant. Here’s what I mean. For most of the movie, Brian, Dom, and the team are trying to get this God’s Eye program in order to find and catch Deckard Shaw. This leads them to attack a convoy to get Ramsey, as well as crash a party thrown by the Abu Dhabi prince. However, Deckard Shaw inexplicably shows up at both of these events. Why are they wasting time trying to find God’s Eye when Shaw is going to show up anyway? Shaw is supposed to be the main antagonist, but his inclusion in these scenes makes everything else feel pointless. His character adds some tension with the action, but the story could’ve been worked out better to include him in a way that makes more sense. Also, it’s worth mentioning that this movie turns some characters into straight-up superheroes. Dom lifts a car with little effort, and Hobbs breaks open his arm cast by flexing. You’ll see a lot more of this in later movies.

While a lot of characters have been written off for one reason or another, the ones that remain bring back their unique brand of charm. Special praise has to go to Michelle Rodriguez as Letty. She does an excellent job portraying someone struggling to figure out her own identity since suffering from amnesia. She knows she’s supposed to be someone or feel certain emotions, but none of them really feel right. Her performance has improved a great deal from her introduction in the first movie. Also, it stands out especially when you compare it to Vin Diesel. His deliveries really start to devolve into these low grumbles for the entire movie. This doesn’t change much for the rest of the franchise. Aside from him, everyone else gives performances suitable for their characters. Even the newcomers, especially Kurt Russell and Nathalie Emmanuel, bring life to their characters that make them fun to watch.

Unfortunately, it’s time to address the passing of Paul Walker. As most people know, Paul Walker died during the production of Furious 7. He and his buddy were cruising on the road when his buddy came up on a sharp turn too quickly and lost control, crashing the car and killing them both. This was a shock to everyone, most especially to Paul’s fellow cast members. It’s clear how his passing looms over the overall tone of the movie. As you watch it, you can see how the writers start to make Dom the main focus of the plot, rather than Dom and Brian. Ultimately, the writers used the internal conflict Brian had with fatherhood as the way to write Brian out of the series properly. Rather than just kill off Brian, they make him accept domestic life and retire from heists and international espionage. I don’t think they could’ve done a better job with this send off. Doing anything other than this would’ve been a slap in the face to the legacy that Paul Walker established with this franchise.

With Paul’s passing, a large number of his scenes were filmed using his younger brothers Cody and Caleb as body doubles. Initially, the VFX team tried to recreate his character completely from scratch using old footage as reference material. However, this proved too difficult. Since Cody and Caleb have a close resemblance to Paul, the VFX team was able to superimpose Paul’s face on them while they acted as stand-ins. Thankfully, not all of Brian’s scenes were filmed with Cody and Caleb. Paul was able to film a small number of scenes before his death. My favorite is his phone conversation with Mia before the climatic finish in L.A. It’s a touching scene on its own. However, it hits especially hard with Paul Walker’s passing. It’s almost like some of Mia’s lines are meant for Paul, rather than Brian. I’m really glad they were able to film this scene with Paul Walker.

With all of the action and fights in this movie, there is no question that the best part of the entire movie is the tribute to Paul Walker at the end. In the scene, the main crew sits on the beach as they watch Brian and Mia play with their son Jack. As the scene progresses, the camera focuses on each of the characters, except for Ramsey, as they watch Brian enjoying life as a father. While watching Brian, the song “See You Again” by Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth, written specifically for this movie, starts to play. It could be easy to take these shots at face value and see the characters saying goodbye to Brian. However, that’s not what’s happening. Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, and Ludacris are saying goodbye to their longtime friend Paul Walker. All of this is capped off by seeing Dom and Brian ride together as a montage of previous scenes with Brian plays. As Dom and Brian drive their separate ways, the camera tilts up as the words “For Paul” show up on the screen. I don’t see how any fan of the franchise can watch this without getting emotional. I’m getting choked up just from writing about it. You really see how much Paul Walker meant to his castmates and the entire franchise. Everything the characters say about Brian in this scene is meant for Paul Walker. Not many franchises are able to send off a character as beautifully as this one does.

Furious 7 easily is one of the best entries in the overall franchise. The action is able to step up the entertainment value without feeling bloated or excessive. The fights get you hooked and make you want more. Finally, the movie is able to deal with the loss of Paul Walker in a way that keeps Brian O’Connor a member of the Fast & Furious universe, rather than just killing him off. The filmmakers took effort to pay tribute to Paul Walker and his legacy. If I were to rank my favorite movies in the entire franchise, this would be #4 on my list. It’s no surprise to me that Furious 7 is the highest grossing and highest rated entry in the series currently. I might take issue with some acting choices and other nitpicky things, but that doesn’t mean the movie isn’t great. It’s an incredibly entertaining film that shows the love the filmmakers have for the franchise and its characters.