Furious 7 Review

This gleefully kinetic installment of the paramilitary-motors franchise pulls a deep bromantic strain from the real-life drama of its production—the death, midway through filming, of its co-star Paul Walker. He plays Brian, a vehicular warrior who is married to Mia (Jordana Brewster), the sister of his partner-in-arms, Dom (Vin Diesel). The partners are mobilized again—together with the martial artist Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), who is Dom’s wife; the class clown Roman (Tyrese Gibson); and the tech wiz Tej (Ludacris)—to combat a double-barrelled assault. The evil Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) is trying to kill them, and his partner-in-terror, Jakande (Djimon Hounsou), has kidnapped the hacker Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel), whose “God’s eye” gizmo can track them across the globe. The federal government—represented by the helmet-coiffed Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell)—kicks in some equipment, and the chase begins, taking the heroes from Los Angeles to the Caucasus Mountains and Abu Dhabi and back. Along the way, they achieve the impossible with vertiginous style, blending NASCAR maneuvers with demolition-derby impact, special-forces exploits with acrobatic aplomb. The director, James Wan, sends cars repeatedly airborne and seems himself to marvel at the results; the movie’s real subject is the stunt work, but its stars’ authentic chemistry lends melody to its relentless beat. The wreckage of cities is just a backdrop for the thrill of hard-won victory and the familial bonding that results. Co-starring Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson, swaggering jovially.

Source : Richard Brody (The New Yorker)

WARNING: Spoilers Ahead

Is that something in your eye? The seventh Fast & Furious movie has confounded all expectations by giving star Paul Walker – who was tragically killed during filming – a touching and sensitively handled send-off. Many critics, including our own Robbie Collin, have confessed that they were moved to tears by the film’s ending, which was cleverly set up throughout the film.

What happens is this. At Han’s funeral at the start of the film, Walker’s character Brian O’Connor is involved in a conversation with Tej (Ludacris) and Roman (Tyrese Gibson) about how they want to see “No more funerals.”

A little later, Mia (Brian’s wife, played by Jordanna Brewster, with whom he’s settled down with one child and another on the way he doesn’t know about) tells Dominic (Vin Diesel) that O’Conner “doesn’t miss the cars and the girls, he misses the bullets”. In other words, the calm home life isn’t for him.

So there’s a foreshadowing of loss and risk at the start of the film. And then mid-final-showdown, Brian calls Mia and they have a conversation about whether or not he’ll be around to raise his kids or will die on the job.

At the end, once Deckard (Jason Statham) is in prison, the characters go to the beach to celebrate, and Walker, Brewster and their son are playing in the surf together. It’s an idyllic scene. One of the series’ big themes is family – making your own, as the heroes have done together – and Dominic remarks that Brian’s life looks pretty good. It’s implied that Walker’s character now realises this and will be hanging up his spurs after all.

Dominic leaves without saying goodbye, but as he pulls up at a crossroads, Brian pulls up alongside him. They’re both in the same cars they drove in the first film (Diesel: black muscle, Walker: blue sports). They smile at each other, have a final goodbye, and there’s a little monologue from Diesel about sharing good times with friends over clips of Walker smiling and looking happy in the previous six films.

Back to the present: they drive alongside each other for a while, and then they reach a fork in the road. Dominic turns right while Brian forks left – the implication is that Dominic’s off on more adventures while Brian’s going back to his family after this one last ride. The camera follows Brian/Walker’s car into the California hills, looking down from overhead in a classic God’s-eye-view, before panning up to the clear blue sky. The screen then fades to white and the words “For Paul” appear in the middle in black.

Now the public has had a chance to see Fast & Furious 7, many fans – including hardened action nuts – are leaving the cinema in bits.

Source : The Telegraph