This seventh installment to the Fast and Furious franchise is a pure action thriller ride

Rating: 8/10 (4 April 2015)

The Fast and Furious franchise had shown its ups and downs throughout since its debut in 2001. This high-octane film series has exhibited a leverage of exhilarating car racing sequences and death- defying stunts that made each of its entries fluctuate in quality of popcorn flicks -- for better or worse. This seventh installment, directed by James Waan, continues its signature sleek action grandeur with some eye-popping car stunts and frenetic action sequences to fuel the adrenaline testatrone, while pushing the plot and character development near the back of the line. This installment, however, faced some major difficulties after franchise veteran star Paul Walker was tragically killed in a car accident during production, delaying the film's release for a whole year. What the cast and crew were not fixing to do however, is not let his death put a halt to the franchise and instead hire Walker's younger brothers substitute the role of Brian O'Connor while being replaced with CGI of Paul's face. The result is a film that not only succeeds with a sleek, action-fueled fare but a surprisingly emotional tribute to the late star. Set after the events of 'Fast Five', Dom (played by Vin Diesel), Brian (played by Paul Walker), and the crew consisting of Letty (played by Michelle Rodriguez), Roman (played by Tyrese Gibson), and Tej (played by Ludicrous) face a new threat, a special forces assassins named Deckward Shaw (played by Jason Statham) who is now seeking vengeance against the crew who took down his brother Owen Shaw in the last film, and sent Agent Luke Hobbs (played by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) to the hospital. Under the assisting eye of Covert Ops agent jokingly named Mr. Nobody (played by Kurt Russell), the crew must pick their slick car racing skills back up and take the down Shaw once for all.
When it comes to bathing the action with outrageous car stunts and frenetic firefights, this film certainly delivers. Those who have sat through the previous entries should expect the action to push the boundaries of plausability. In this entry however, the action set pieces soar further into the realm of where the boundaries of logic are pushed to the point where it gets a little absurd. That is definitely not to say that they are a not a whole lot of fun. That is if you are willing to leave your intellect at the door. Ranging from explosive car crashes, to characters driving a car out from a skyscraper into another, to taking a barrel down a cliff, this film exhibits almost no obedience to plausability. Instead, it continues its usual trend of characters zipping through the streets in fancy sports cars and mowing down the baddies in an excess of machine guns. While the plot and character development are unsurprisingly left mostly neglected here, director James Waan thankfully makes up for it with feeding the adrenaline-fueled testosterone with exhilarating action set pieces and infectiously likable characters who never miss the opportunity to spit out some hilarious one-liners from time to time. Jason Statham's antagonist makes for a cheeky villain, but certainly not one that blows the previous ones out of the water. The cast remains funny and charismatic as ever, while Kurt Russell is given little to do other than to deliver some lines of dialogue dealing with techno-business. Easily the biggest gem that the film has to offer is an unexpected emotional heft, uprooted by the death of Paul Walker, that pays off at the end as we are treated with a bittersweet sendoff to both the character and actor.
Furious 7 is a wild, fast-paced action thrill ride to embraces the spirit of the franchise with solid versatility, while paying a respectful tribute to the late Paul Walker, a new star shining in the heavens. It is a fun ride for those craving for two-hours of muscle men racing in sports car and dodge bullets. If you are for the ride, fasten your seatbelts.