How Fast & Far Can One of These Souped Up Cars Go From 2013 ?

Rating: 4/10 (20 April 2015)

With a pardon in hand, the Fast & Furious team tries to settle down to normalcy. A relative of an old foe, Shaw, however, starts hunting the members down. This especially disrupts the life of Brian O'Connor, who is having trouble readjusting to a non FBI, non fugitive lifestyle of being a house dad.
I saw this film two weeks ago, and I still can't get it out of my head. It is not that shocking of a story, but it was that eerie. Unfortunately, that eeriness wasn't achieved by film art. It all had to do with Paul Walker's death. (Nothing like realism to wreck an escapist yarn) Unlike Brian O'Connor, the character that Paul Walker had created some fifteen years ago, the actor wasn't able to walk away from a fiery car crash. Which is troubling because three of the four signature stunt scenes in this film involved O'Connor walking away from car wrecks. And the fourth...
First of all, some credit...Some of the stunts worked. Andy and Jack Gill, the stunt coordinators, gave most of the stunts a seamless look.
James Wan's direction was just okay. His jump cuts weren't needed. And while some of the stunts scored, a lot were underwhelming or silly concepts. Flying cars?!?? And it's curious as to why he avoided showing the race between Dominick Toretto and Sean Boswell. (That race has been expected for the past four films. Not showing it was bad form.)
Give Wan kudos for pulling the best performance out of Kurt Russell (as nameless) in several years. Also give him a gold star for getting a good performance out of Jason Statham, as the villain, Deckard Shaw. For the first time ever, Statham's acting wasn't a distraction.
It was also unnerving how Wan and the studio handled Paul Walker's final scenes. To complete this film the studio used digital technology to create images of Brian O'Connor in some sequences, including his last scene with Vin Diesel. It looked phony.
I've seen all the Fast & Furious films. I liked the first one the least; the fifth one, Fast Five, the most. Of them, I had only seen the fifth installment twice. It was always a good sell to me, for I pegged it for what it was: a popcorn film series...like flash Gordon, or Jason and the Argonauts. If you like looking at fast cars, and Evil Kneivel stunts, then these first few stories were for you.
None of these stories reflected what went into street racing philosophies or realities, though. Not once in any of the Fast films did I ever see a driver lose control and fly through a house or a storefront. There were no overturned light poles or traffic signals. And no one was sent to the hospital after getting rammed by an out of control racing car. The closest the filmmakers came to collateral damage in the series was when a safe took out a bank.
Reality was never a high point with these films. What made the Fast & Furious franchise succeed was their reliance upon stunts first...so it was especially out of character to see flying cars.
Rob a bank, heist a Hollywood truck, smuggle some illegals, and get some free gas were major plots of four of these first five films. They kept to blue collar interests. The sixth installment had the most unbelievable – way unbelievable – plot. And in Furious 7??? The plot line gets even more bizarre. Find "God's Eye?" Is this the sign of a tired series?
Having trouble separating the Paul Walker tragedy from the film? It's an easy reaction to spot. If you are interested in seeing Furious 7 out of curiosity on how they will resolve the Brian O'Connor dilemma, then there is CONFLICT. As I pointed out, this film series has avoided realistic situations its entire run, and the sixth installment ran as fast as they could in the other direction. Thinking that number seven recasts the mold is wishful thinking.
Me? I was conflicted at first. I rewatched the film hoping...maybe...these wacky stunts SAVE the film. But each time I see them now, the image of Walker's car ablaze keeps flashing back in my head. And I think: "What a waste..."
Addendum: Vin Diesel just announced that there will be a Fast & Furious 8. This comes after his pronouncements before the film was released in mid April 2015 that if there was an eighth installment, he would not be involved. Of course that was more than a billion dollars ago.
Whichever...this is the last one for me. As these story lines become more incredulous, it's well past the point of being a popcorn movie. It is now getting into the territory of being a joke.