Check Your Brain At The Door & Enter! ♦ 57%

Rating: 6/10 (2 April 2015)

It is a good thing the franchise sampled the heist element into its defining genre of car and culture, otherwise hardly would it have reached the level it has now. Growing through sequel after sequel, in this seventh installment of the beloved, sentimentally-charged series, the only problem is - it goes beyond adequacy.
Finally stitching together the third film and its sequels, the plot takes you on a revenge game from the antagonist's side. The Toretto-O'Connor family has developed over the years, and the sentimentality is all over the place, giving the plot a considerable dose of melodrama. But the past is back to haunt them as Shaw (Statham) is vowing to avenge his brother's free-fall from that never-ending runway in the sixth film. Starting with an attack on Hobbs (The Rock), Shaw visits Dom and gang from time to time like he's an insurance agent coming in for monthly checks. All he does is arrive, talk, shoot few bullets and beautiful grenades, and leave.
Then the plot drifts to a side story about a hacker who is being pursued by a dumb marauder. Unfortunately the primary bad guy (Statham), as one can possibly detect, has a screen space less than that of the Indian lad Ali Fazal. He is vindictive, agreed, but switching ON and OFF between the scenes is equivalent to a show without a villain. It mostly looked like that Dom and his gang are fighting and driving for nothing. That is confirmed when in the second half you see all of Hollywood crammed into one big setting, where all rules of science, logic, and common sense go take a hike. The second biggest problem with the plot is that Hobbs, who as an anti-hero changed the way the audience saw The Fast & The Furious series evolve, is left out. It was a delight watching him in the last two films, but in here, he is not even given his fair share of comedy. Tyrese may make you laugh with maintained humor, but he definitely overdoes it.
However, fans expecting explosions WILL get explosions. After tanks and freighters, here we have flying cars and buses fit with machine guns. The action goes couple of notches higher, with breathtaking (is the right word) sequences helped by beautiful photography. The camera work is better due to the use of slow-motion stunts. If you take the advice I have mentioned in the summary, you will find delight in watching these scenes that unfold in the first half. Second half is tedious and draggy. With a climax that lasts an eternity adds further boredom to the viewing experience and makes Hollywood look like Bollywood. Even the music is a let down.
The character of Letty (Rodriguez) was best left dead, because she is one player causing sameness in the film. With that silver Christ locket exchanging necks and hands more than a regular one dollar bill, it would have been wiser to prune the family business, now that Mrs. O'Connor is being cast only for the purpose of producing babies. Diesel is fine, Statham is badly cast, while Walker is purportedly the man of the show. A glorious tribute at the end closes the show with a tear.
BOTTOM LINE: Watchable, because it very well defines what the franchise is all about - ones and zeros as in binary which relates to fear and loyalty as in family. So, limit your brain and experience the high-octane drama. 6/10.
Can be watched with a typical Indian family? YES