For Paul

Rating: 9/10 (3 April 2015)

The Fast and Furious series is one of the few franchises that has gotten better as they go along. I thought the first few were entertaining but had no real meat or depth to them. The series took off with Fast 5, and has been fantastic ever since. Furious 7 is not only the most insane of the franchise, but it's also by far the most emotional. This movie is simply the reason why I love cinema. It has everything that you would want in an action film, plus the perfect way to honor Paul Walker. I never thought a film with hundreds of punches, huge muscles, and fast cars would move me to tears. Just as Furious 7 was dedicated to Paul Walker, I'm going to dedicate this review to him as well. He was never an Oscar winner, but he was a part of one of the franchises that heightened my love for film. He was known as one of the nicest guys around Hollywood and I can only hope that he's looking down and watching this film with a big smile on his face.
Furious 7 plays a lot off of the events of the previous installment as Jason Statham plays Deckard Shaw, brother of the almost fallen Owen Shaw. He's very much like Winter Soldier in Captain America, he appears every now and then tearing through buildings and bodies on his way to avenge his brother. From hear it's Dom, Brian, Hobbs, and the rest of the crew to stop him from taking more lives. Much like the previous films Furious 7 goes across the globe and finds it's way to high speed races with a lot of girls in bikinis. Perhaps they took that a little too far this time but it will only bother you if you don't know what your getting into with these films. Speaking of that, it's just about twice as ridiculous as the 6th film in terms of death defying stunts and action sequences. The action is non stop and the plot can be a bit confusing and convoluted. But considering how much trouble the production went through, I cant blame the filmmakers for any of those faults. They did a tremendous job in retrospective.
Newcomers include Kurt Russell and Nathalie Emmanuel who both did a good job. I heard Russell plays a bigger part in the inevitable 8th installment and I would like to see Emmanuel return as well because they both seemed to have a lot of fun with this film. Everyone else is pretty much back including Mia, Elena, and Gisele all making cameos. I have come to love this group so much over the years that it's really great to see everyone together, especially if it's the last time. There's also a side story about the Letty-Dom relationship. That also turned out to be extremely satisfying as a long time fan. But the biggest laughs out of the film come from Tyrese Gibson and Ludicrous' banter. It's one of the reasons why the last 3 films have worked so well is the increased chemistry between the crew.
The most satisfying part of the film was the ending. Every questioned how they could possibly deal with the death of Walker during the middle of filming, but I have to say they couldn't have handled it any better. The last 10 minutes or so were absolutely gut wrenching. I loved all the big action sequences with cars flying through buildings and one on one fist fights were great. But nothing in terms of filmmaking compared to the final scenes honoring Paul. Vin Diesel giving his final words to him was some of the most emotional moments I have experienced in a film, let alone an action film. The plot doesn't make perfect sense at times, but the message does. Family is and always will be the most important thing in life. Rest in peace Paul Walker.
+Action tops anything before
+All the characters and more appear
+Funny as ever
+Perfect send off for Paul
9.3/10