Furious 7

Rating: 7/10 (3 September 2017)

This seventh entry in the non-stop high-octane franchise became one of the highest-grossing movies of all time, it is dedicated to the memory of its star Paul Walker, who tragically died in a car accident halfway during production, I was hoping for a suitable tribute, and a great film, directed by James Wan (Saw, Insidious, The Conjuring). Basically following the defeat of Owen Shaw (Luke Evans), and past crime pardoned, Dominic "Dom" Toretto (Vin Diesel), former FBI agent Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) and the rest of their team have returned to America to live normal lives again. Brian is enjoying being a father, while Dom is trying to help returned lover Leticia "Letty" Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez) regain her memory. Meanwhile, Owen Shaw is in a coma, his older brother, Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) swears vengeance against Dom and his team. Shaw next breaks into the office of DSS (Diplomatic Security Service) agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) to extract profiles of Dom's crew, he and Hobbs fight, Shaw escapes after detonating a bomb that severely injures Hobbs. Dom learns from his sister Mia (Jordana Brewster) that she is pregnant again, he convinces her to tell Brian, but Dom is called by Shaw, who is in Tokyo, Japan, he detonates a bomb that kills team member Han Seoul-Oh (Sung Kang). Dom visits Hobbsijn hospital, he learns that Shaw is a rogue special forces assassin seeking to avenge his brother, Dom travels to Tokyo to claim Han's body, he also meets with and races Han's friend Sean Boswell (Lucas Black), who gives him personal items found at the crash site. At Han's funeral in Los Angeles, Dom notices a car observing them, after a chase he catches the driver, it is Shaw, they prepare to fight, but Shaw flees when a covert ops team arrives and opens fire. The team are led by Frank Petty aka Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell), he offers to help Dom in stopping Shaw, if he helps him to obtain God's Eye, a computer program that can use any digital device to track down people and turn a device into a weapon, and they must save its British hacker creator Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel) from a mercenary named Mose Jakande (Djimon Hounsou). Dom, Brian, Letty, Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson), and Tej Parker (Chris "Ludacris" Bridges) airdrop their cars over the Caucasus Mountains in Azerbaijan, they ambush Jakande's convoy and rescue Ramsey, she tells them she gave the flash drive containing God's Eye to a friend in Abu Dhabi. The team there and find the friend, Safar (Ali Fazal), who has sold the drive to a a billionaire, this leads the team to a party where they plan to get it back, they escape after Letty fights with Kara (Ronda Rousey), the Head of Security for the billionaire, and Dom and Brian use a fast car, with brakes damaged and crashing through the near buildings. The team use God's Eye to track down Shaw, who is waiting at a remote factory; Dom, Brian, Petty and his team attempt to capture him, but Jakande and his men ambush them, they flee and Jakande obtain God's Eye. Petty requests to be evacuated by helicopter when he is injured, Brian and Dom continue without him, the team have no choice but to pursue Shaw, Jakande and his men to Los Angeles, meanwhile Brian calls Mia, she tells him about her pregnancy, he promises he will retire and fully dedicate himself dedicate to her and their children, once they deal with Shaw. Brian and the team are pursued by Jakande in a stealth helicopter, and with an aerial drone, Ramsey attempts to hack into God's Eye, Hobbs watches the team in trouble on the news, he leaves the hospital, and eventually catches up, to destroy the drone with an ambulance. Ramsey regains control of God's Eye and shuts it down, Brian engages Jakande's team member Kiet (Tony Jaa) and kills him when he falls down an elevator shaft. Dom and Shaw engage in an aggressive brawl in a parking lot, before Jakande intervenes and attacks them both, Shaw is defeated when the parking lot ground collapses beneath him, Dom launches his vehicle at Jakande's helicopter, throwing a bag of grenades with it, Hobbs shoots at the bag, the helicopter is destroyed and Jakande is killed. Dom is pulled from the wreckage of his car, believed to be dead, Letty cradles him and reveals she has regained all her memories, including their wedding day, Dom regains consciousness, simply saying "It's about time." Shaw is taken by Hobbs to a secret high security prison; Dom, Letty, Roman, Tej, and Ramsey observe Brian and Mia playing with their son, they acknowledge Brian is better off retired with his family. In the end, Dom silently leaves, Ramsey asks if he's going to say goodbye, Dom says, "It's never goodbye.", but Brian catches up with him at a crossroad, as Dom remembers the times he had with Brian (with flashbacks from the previous films), they bid each other farewell and drive off in separate directions. Also starring Elsa Pataky as Elena, Wonder Woman's Gal Gadot as Gisele and singer Iggy Azalea as Female Racer. Diesel delivers as the team leader, Walker gives a good final performance, his remaining scenes completed by younger brothers Caleb and Codym and brilliant CGI, there is good banter between the supporting cast, and Statham is a suitably nasty villain. The majority of the films have been more style over substance, thankfully this has a well crafted story, especially the moving and fitting goodbye to Walker, featuring the brilliant chart-topping and Golden Globe nominated "See You Again" by Wiz Khalifa feat. Charlie Puth (which overtook "Gangnam Style" as the most watched video on YouTube). Obviously there are the over-the-top moments that border on ridiculous (cars dropping from the sky and parachuting), but you can't complain with the many cool cars, and exciting stunts, chases and explosions, a really entertaining action thriller. Very good!