There's a scene fairly early in FURIOUS 7 where most of the primary players are attending the funeral of a fallen comrade. At one point, Tyrese Gibson's Roman says to Paul Walker's Brian O'Conner something to the effect of "I'm tired of going to funerals." O'Conner's response is "One more." In the context of the film's plot, he's referring to the funeral of the man who put their friend in the ground, but to the viewing world, both sides of that conversation have a more chilling resonance, given Walker's shocking death during the production of FURIOUS 7.
I've seen the film twice now, and I'll admit that the first time through I watched every scene featuring Walker trying to determine if it was actually him in the shot or some double or a CGI creation. It's almost impossible not to, and it wasn't about morbid curiosity; I simply wanted to be aware of every frame that actually featured him in his final screen appearance. Whether this was always the case before the filmmakers were forced to retool the plot or not, Brian O'Conner's struggle between wanting to be at the center of the action with his brother-in-cars Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and keeping safe for the sake of the family he has started with Toretto's sister Mia (Jordana Brewster) gives the film an emotional core that the series as a whole has never had prior to this entry. As a result, FURIOUS 7 is easily the finest the franchise has given us in its long and checkered run.
THE FAST & FURIOUS films have always been hit and miss for me. I've more or less been on board with the series, but I have particular fondness for the original film, TOKYO DRIFT (the third entry), as well as most of the fifth and sixth chapters in this seemingly endless, always-connected adventure, in which cars were royalty and (mostly) live-action stunts ruled the day and made the cinematic landscape of CG worlds and creatures seem downright wimpy. Those who have long been struggling with TOKYO DRIFT's apparent leap into the future (a fact that was finally dealt with at the end of FAST & FURIOUS 6) will be happy to know that the circle is finally closed with FURIOUS 7 as Dominic heads to Japan to explain that cameo TOKYO DRIFT and we even get a new scene with Lucas Black's Sean Boswell (I actually kind of wished he'd been brought into the fold a whole lot more, which I suppose is still a possibility).
But the main thrust of FURIOUS 7 is about dealing with criminal crazy person Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham), who is seeking revenge for the team's putting his brother Owen (Luke Evans, who actually does show up in the first scene to play Owen in a coma). It's made clear very early that Deckard is a far more dangerous older brother as his means of revenge are downright outrageous and he has no issues with collateral damage (of the property or human variety). He begins his revenge rampage by taking on Agent Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson), and if you think a knock-down, drag-out fist fight between Statham and The Rock sounds badass, you might just have a future in this place. Perhaps in the interest of keeping the headcount in the film down a little, that particular skirmish lands Hobbs in the hospital, keeping Johnson sidelined for most of the film.
If you had to boil it down to its essentials, FURIOUS 7 is basically the team on a new assignment going globe-hopping in search of a piece of tracking software called the God's Eye, and at each point in their search, just when things seem to be going their way, Deckard shows up to wreck everything. If it wasn't so damn cool, it might actually be laughable; but don't worry, I'm guessing you'll laugh too. The film gives each member of the team, which also includes Michelle Rodriguez's still amnesiac Letty and Ludacris as tech wizard Tej, their moments to shine. And it also has time to introduce a few new players to the game, including Kurt Russell as a government operative looking to get his hands on God's Eye and willing to use it to help track down Deckard, as well as Nathalie Emmanuel ("Game of Thrones") as God's Eye designer, Ramsey. Also playing for the bad guys are such welcome guests as Tony Jaa, who has two great fight scenes with Walker, and Djimon Hounsou as some sort of despot who has his own uses for God's Eye.
But perhaps the most impressive new face in FURIOUS 7 isn't ever on screen. Director James Wan (SAW, both INSIDIOUS films, THE CONJURING) takes over from long-time franchise helmer Justin Lin (who about to start work on the next STAR TREK film), and while so many elements of these films are fixtures, Wan brings a necessary warmth to the proceedings that actually makes us care about who lives and dies in these death-defying chases, crashes and explosions. It's hardly worth mentioning the chase sequences in these films anymore because these stories are set in a world where over-the-top doesn't exist, where "impossible" has about as much meaning as physics. Still, the action scenes here are spectacular. I was especially impressed with a car chase on a winding mountain road early in the film; and of course throwing five cars out of a plane, each with a parachute on it to ease in a smooth landing, is just the icing.
I'm aware of the foolishness of the following statement, but the dialogue in these films is still laughable even at their most serious, in particular Dominic's low-grumble, Buddha-like musings about family and brotherhood and revenge. But Chris Morgan's screenplay (he's written all of the films since TOKYO DRIFT) still manages to hit most of the right notes and seems (somewhat) aware of how inconceivable so much of what this team does is, not hesitating to play such elements for laughs when he can. But even that can't stop the tiresome, soap opera-esque subplot involving Letty's amnesia and how, you guessed it, her memory begins to return in pieces at exactly the moments when they're most needed.
I won't go into specifics about how the O'Conner character is dealt with at the end of the film, but I will say that it's a fitting, surprisingly moving tribute to both the character and the qualities Paul Walker brought to Brian, who was essentially the everyman of the group. He was the outsider who fell in love with a world he was meant to bring down, and he was turned into the ultimate insider. FURIOUS 7 gives Walker plenty of moments to let us remember what a solid action star he was, and a handful of nice scenes with his family to see him relaxed and happy to be living a simpler life.
FURIOUS 7 is unabashedly about entertaining you until your eyes bleed and your ears explode. I might also add that the second time I saw it was on an IMAX screen, and although none of it was shot in IMAX, the impact (since so much of the movie takes place at higher elevations) is nevertheless impressive. Here's a "summer" movie that doesn't require you to completely turn off your brain to enjoy, but you can certainly relax it a bit. This is the good stuff.
