Pedal to the metal fun and a powerful farewell to Paul Walker

Rating: 8/10 (10 April 2015)

With Furious 7, it's amazing a coherent film ever came out of the gate at all. Following Paul Walker's tragic death midway through filming the movie had a very troubled production, but thankfully things have worked out and Furious 7 is the second best Fast and Furious film to date, after Fast Five. The brother of F&F6's antagonist is after the team, and after killing Han (As seen at the end of the third and sixth films) goes after the others. Some other bad guys after a ludicrous computer programme which can hack into every camera anywhere in the world. Just don't try and follow the plot. Furious 7 breaks the speedometer in terms of action but also has characters we care about. The storyline between the only slightly less blank than usual Vin Diesel and Michelle Rodriguez is well handled, Tyrese is as hilarious as ever and there's a good level of humour to the film. James Wan makes a successful transition from horror to action, and the film remains suspenseful and tense however big the setpieces. Cars fly between skyscrapers. A man leaps off a falling bus and jumps on a drift turning car. Dwayne Johnson, as brilliantly badass as ever, battles a helicopter with the mother of all machine guns. What more could you want?
However, Furious 7 definitely has its issues, as do all of the films in the franchise. The plot is a bit messy and peaks too early. The film never quite reaches the level of the first action sequence again. The LA finale is fun but a bit convoluted and confused and at times the action is getting to be a tiny bit too much. Meanwhile, Nathalie Emmanuel is terrible in the movie and slightly blunts every scene she's in. As expected, this is a bit of a mess. It is however a genuinely moving tribute to Paul Walker, which will definitely cause tears for some. I didn't notice CGI Paul Walker at any point, although some others might. As a result, this is one of the most tear jerking action films ever made. Jason Statham and Dwayne Johnson, who both do a good job, are underused with Dwayne Johnson spending most of the film in hospital and Jason Statham mostly just turning up wherever the team go to beat loads of people up. Overall though, it simply has to be given credit as a fun action film and us a moving tribute to Paul Walker.
8/10