High stakes, fast cars, exotic spy hijinks

Rating: Null/10 (21 June 2020)

The seventh installment in the Fast & Furious franchise sees the return of Dom (Vin Diesel) and Brian (Paul Walker) as two mercenaries specializing in fast cars. This time the film begins with them resting on their laurels, but their past exploits are about to catch up with them.
Furious 7 is probably the most interconnected of the Fast & Furious films. It really requires you to have seen the previous films, or at least it heavily rewards you having done that. Everything from the individual character arcs to the villain himself are building upon the events of the past films and I bet the film would be rather difficult to follow if you haven't seen them. But that's definitely a point in the film's favour, not a weakness.
The film's strengths are those of the franchise. It has style in abundance, most of all. It has fast cars, cool soundtrack, suave characters, great actors, hot chicas, high octane action scenes, spy stuff and the kitchen sink as well. And the addition of Jason Statham to the ensemble cast only strengthened the formula.
Regrettably, Paul Walker, one of the two main leads of the franchise, passed away in a car accident during the filming of the film. The film was completed using his two brothers as stand-ins, and if you didn't know that, you absolutely wouldn't notice. The film's script was also reworked a little bit in order to retire Brian as a character, and it's a fitting, touching send-off to a great character. Full marks.
I still maintain that Fast Five is my favourite movie in the franchise so far, and after that I'd probably go with the first one, but this one would be a close third.