FURIOUS 7… Who could have predicted the trajectory of this franchise back in 2001 when Neal Moritz, the series’ producer, was coming off of years of light scare flicks like I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER, URBAN LEGEND, CRUEL INTENTIONS, THE SKULLS… They dusted of the Roger Corman produced 1955 hot pursuit crime flick, THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS… it’s ok. You can see it on Netflix if you’re really curious to see just how radically it was adapted. FURIOUS 7 is the most exciting, most emotional, most poignat and yes even the most ridiculously fun one yet!
Neal brought in Rob Cohen, who he’d worked with previously on THE SKULLS and some TV work, and they put out a film – which back in 2001, was a sleeper hit, though not with critics, still, it’s at 53%. As I often am, I went nuts for the film from the beginning. In fact, I’m on record loving each and every installment of this unlikely super-series.
I don’t see these films as serious real world gearhead flicks, I love that they are constantly self-aware of their silliness – and what lights me up comes from a long standing love of Hal Needham flicks that I was raised on. Critics hated those too. The crazy boy love between Paul Walker and Tyrese in 2 FAST 2 FURIOUS felt to some like a complete derailing of the series. Folks felt that Vin Diesel was the anchor – and he was nowhere to be seen.
However, that was nothing.
3 years go by, and when we next join our larcenous motorheads… it’s THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS: TOKYO DRIFT – a film that is woefully misunderstood, but at the time… Justin Lin was coming off ANNAPOLIS which had Jordana Brewster and Tyrese Gibbons in it, but TOKYO DRIFT didn’t have Paul Walker… Didn’t have Vin Diesel (that we knew of)… and it was completely different. Kid gets sent to Tokyo to avoid trouble, hangs out with a gang of “drifters” in what is all at once… exquisite car fantasy. High School kids that would try this would probably end up pushing daisies, but I loved it. When Vin arrived at the end… I just was dying to see… what was next.
Next came FAST & FURIOUS by Justin Lin and it out performed the original, though at double the cost. But folks seemed to uniformly feel the series was out of its skids and back on track, but of course – for me, while I loved this one, there was something about the previous two and how they completely reinvented themselves – and were pliable with what this series could be, that made them work for me.
This series has never been playing it safe. It took a bit of time for the stars to fall madly in love with it, but looking back… what Cohen & Singleton did… Lin followed, making his own crazy Tokyo Drift, before bringing it home with the fourth film. It worked! But still – nobody saw what was coming.
FAST FIVE… holy shit… it exploded the franchise – but holy shit it was confusing to those faithful followers… How is HAN back, he fucking died… and Lin used that knowledge to torment us, tease us, but most of all… we finally got to understand that TOKYO DRIFT was a FUTURE LEAP FORWARD for the franchise and that was just weird… but watching THE ROCK VS VIN… The violence and outrageousness began to explode. The idea of Toretto’s team with Vin, Paul, Tyrese, Ludacris, Sung and Gal… it was magic.
FAST & FURIOUS 6 had our devilish criminals working alongside the Government, doing something on a scale that eclipsed everything that came before. That thousand mile runway was nothing, next to the sadness of Han and his commitment to return to Tokyo, spelling his doom in the series – but also signaling – OH – Here’s where TOKYO DRIFT goes… And really – this is where the whole world just gave up fighting this muscle series. It was like Strangelove, people began to love the bombs – every aspect of this series was woven into some crazy HOT WHEELS spectacular, where you began to play with your GI JOES. The series got bigger.
After Justin Lin’s run of four Fast & Furious flicks… he decided to leave the show. I actually felt an ache inside when he left. Lin put together a superseries from scraps that nobody seriously thought went together. But suddenly, Singleton and Lin’s first, were just giving us incredibly vital back story to characters that would become integral to the future of the series.
Now we have James Wan, director of SAW, DEAD SILENCE, INSIDIOUS, THE CONJURING and INSIDIOUS: Chapter 2. Well, Moritz did begin with horror… would the series suddenly have to deal with Annabelle? Looking at Wan’s films, you notice that he’s incredibly sharp visually – and does good character work, but did he have the action chops.
I remember, shortly after he was announced, he put out some videos online of testing shooting cars with Hot Wheels – and the footage actually looked fun. Hmmmm, maybe he was going to make this great.
Then we get the casting. In addition to having EVERYBODY back, well… except Han… Then we get to hear that this has Jason Statham and Kurt Russell and Tony Jaa and Dijimon Hounsou, Ronda Rousey and even Iggy Azalea… that’s crazy.
The shoot begins, before its over, Paul leaves us and the show – and the film swings into hiatus. Universal had spent a major fortune on the film which still had a sizable shoot left… What do they do? How do they deliver closure? How do they do a single crazy car stunt or high speed anything, knowing that Paul died in a car with his stunt driver. It’s so close to home. Would the film be creepy? There was the whole meeting with Paul’s family – and a bold plan started to take shape. They announce they’re going to finish it and there was much elation and much trepidation.
Many of us still remember going to see THE CROW almost a year exactly after Brandon Lee died. My dad discusses seeing the James Dean films in a post-James Dean world. I saw all of Bruce Lee’s films after he’d died – and all he became was greater. But THE CROW is a different animal. Like TWILIGHT ZONE, it was a set incident… and that he died in the scene in which his character dies… I know some that can’t watch the movie out of furious anger.
Here, Paul wasn’t on set. It was an off-set tragedy, so to me, this felt more like James Dean dying.
I always thought Vin Diesel and Paul Walker should’ve been Ben Grimm and Johnny Storm in a FANTASTIC FOUR movie. They’re chemistry is very much that dynamic. Vin is CLOBBERING TIME and Paul is the Hothead, there’s a respect and a love and a bit of a goading that goes on between them – but it was never to be.
Now – let’s get fully into the review…
FURIOUS 7
James Wan, who has always been a dependable director, has raised his game into the creation of a gargantuan Easter Weekend megafilm. On our screens this weekend we will see Paul risen onscreen one last time… We hear the phrase “one last ride” from characters, the soundtrack – and really…
This never feels morbid to me, this is a rip-roaring crazy physics wild hoot of a flick. Best of the series? Yeah. It’s the best in the series, if for no other reason than introducing a new character called only, Mr. Nobody… played by Kurt Russell, who is essentially the Nick Fury of the series now. AND how much do you love that?
I thought we’d only see him in the safe world of his lairs, but oh no… Snake strikes again – and he’s got crazy cool tech – and… I do wanna discuss this – of all the films, this is the one that begins to leave the world of HOT WHEELS – and becomes a bit more M.A.S.K. – you remember M.A.S.K.? Mobile Armored Strike Kommand? There’s a mountain sequence in this movie that destroys everything that has come before for this series. It is exquisitely crafted and paced. Utterly absurd, but… I’ve never gone to the theater to just see reality, I go for the fantasy that you can only see on that screen.
I’ve been to a few road rallies and car shows in my life – and I’ve even poured a pitcher of beer into the mouth of TRUCKASAURUS once… But you can’t see anything at the audacious magnificence of crazy cars doing the things they do here live in person. Beyond the vehicular insanity, we’re still having Paul leaping from high speed vehicle to a bigger thing, we have multiple showdowns throughout the film.
Paul Walker’s key nemesis is Tony Jaa. No, that’s not how he exits the series, though I certainly believed it every second he was fighting Jaa. When Tony Jaa exploded with ONG-BAK – I instantly wanted him in everything everywhere. Jaa moves like nobody else, but the straight Thai films… no matter how great, there’s just a segment of the world that’ll never check them out – and that’s tragic, their loss… and ours. If his foreign work was adored as the work deserves to be, Jaa would be an enormous well known star. As it is, Martial Arts geeks know enough to respect. At this point, I just have to say… I have no idea when and where Paul Walker is in this flick, because… well, we just won’t get that type of knowledge until a commentary track and extras explain exactly how all this was done, if they ever decide to teach us the magic of how it was done.
Now, Jason Statham… he’s like Wile Coyote to Vin’s Road Runner… Vin has a mission to KILL Statham, but Statham, Wile Coyote is a super competent ghost of a spy/assassin… James Bond gone bad. But the way Jason shows up is like Wile, always when you least expect it and with some sort of custom vehicular madness…. And at every step, he shows up when least convenient. Before Vin is going toe to toe though, Statham fights THE ROCK – and THE ROCK is so big – so massive that everytime he lands a blow on Statham… it feels as though it should rip all the way through his body, visually. That said, Statham, like the Coyote I grew up with, he’s resilient and crafty. He’s always several steps ahead and it’s a great way of setting us up for the eventual Jason vs Vin lunacy – and when it comes… OUTSTANDING. Vin’s blows still shatter concrete. Jason is still a tricky precise bastard of an enemy, officially he’s the big brother of Luke Evans’ Owen Shaw. I’m personally hoping for a Papa Shaw played by someone like Pierce Brosnan for this F&F8 Vin’s been chatting about.
Now, the most awesome match up in the film comes when Michelle Rodriguez tussles with Ronda Rousey in Abu Dhabi, before the most insane part of the film. And that’s saying something. Anyway, when these two tussle, you know they mean it. Ronda is pure pound for pound badass of the film. Her “I will destroy you” face is like scary. But Michelle, as an onscreen actress and offscreen badass, she has a cache of don’t fuck with me, that’s pretty great. Then – put them in high fashion and watch them tear at each other, pound each other – and the entire time… I’m trained by Rousey’s fights, to instantly have great sympathy for the arms of her opponents and I was trying to imagine Michelle Rodriguez as a one armed actress and thinking… Tony Stark could build her an arm, like that kid in the video.
The audience I saw it with were kind of perfect… yelling back at the screen. My fave, was in Abu Dhabi, there’s a moment of Ludacris badassness that comes out of nowhere, and one audience member screamed out, “That’s how to nail a motherfucker!” – and the audience erupted in applause. These are that type of film. AUDIENCE MOVIES. Those of us that have loved being in those audiences, having those experiences… we know. SURE – they’re incredibly silly action spectaculars… but you watch this and you watch any TRANSFORMER movie – and you’ll spy the difference. We love these characters. They’ve smartly invited us to all be a part of their particular octane of family. But this film isn’t about NOS, it has very aptly dropped the FAST and has absolutely earned its FURIOUS!
As I said at the top – this is the biggest, loudest, most emotional and even poignant film of the FAST & FURIOUS franchise. Every additional cast member has a real solid role to play, and every moment that Rousey, Jaa, Hounsou & Statham pop up – a smile widened across my face. Throughout this series, the casting and expansion of the scale and type of action, the ability to reinvent and survive tragedy… I really do feel, this is a crazy franchise. Like MISSION IMPOSSIBLE, which stumbled, then found its feet… This series has done it spectacularly well.
Also… THE ROCK! Ya know. His CAST gag made my Dad guffaw, and he hardly ever does that! Sorry – had to mention that. I just can’t wait for him to be Black Adam! Perfection.
Can’t wait to go see this with Yoko soon! We love this series.
