A disappointing send-off for Paul

Rating: 6/10 (7 April 2015)

The F&F franchise is a franchise unlike any other. It just keeps getting more and more successful. I have no idea how they managed that. I remember being captivated by the first one, started drifting with the second, skipped the third, and then found an old love with four and five. This one, unfortunately, was hit with tragedy due to the untimely death of one it's leading stars; Paul Walker, and it's future looked shaky at best. Re-writes and reshoots aimed to salvage the movie took place and, more than anything, I was intrigued to see what kind of effect it all had. The good news is it had barely any effect at all.
Owen Shaw's brother, Deckard, is back and seeking revenge after the events of the last movie. This (somehow) leads Toretto into the hands of a shady Government arm led by Mr. Nobody who needs a hacker to activate a government surveillance program. Uh? Apparently Toretto needs to find Shaw before Shaw finds him, and to do that he needs the surveillance program. Unfortunately the hacker's been kidnapped by some guy so they need to get her back first. This all results in that massive cliffhanger from six meaning jack-s***. Deckard is not the main villain here. We do not get an intimate story where the Furious Family is hunted by a stone-cold killer. Instead we get a nameless villain with more military hardware than the rest of the world combined, and Shaw just appears every now and then to make the heists more difficult.
Yeah, story wise I am left very disappointed. It didn't deliver on anything it promised from the last film. Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration. The movie has a very strong start. We see what Deckard is capable of and our characters are left in a sustained peril as they're being hunted by him. Key characters are temporarily (and permanently) put out of the picture. It's going good. But as soon as Mr. Nobody and his bizarre organisation comes in, the great direction is left as a sub-plot to a much inferior angle. I understand they're trying to establish Mr. Nobody ready for an upcoming movie, but it ruined this one.
The stunts and action sequences are even more over-the-top than what you might find in The Expendables. You've got cars parachuting out of planes, drone chases in downtown LA, hypercars jumping three skyscrapers, and The Rock loses. Okay that last one was actually done really well, defeating Hobbs the only way you could imagine defeating him. The rest though? I'm out. I get the over-the-top, fun angle. It's going for those classic action movies that are so bad and so silly they're good, but I feel at this point it's come far too far from it's roots. I mean, this is like 2 Fast 2 Furious all over again.
Which is ironic because the film definitely tries to tie to it's roots. We get even more cameos from past cast members, including Hector from the very first movie (Who's Hector? He's the generic latino guy that speaks maybe two lines) and Lucas from Tokyo Drift, and of course the dedication to Paul at the end complete with flashbacks to all the other movies. This is the film's single biggest saving grace. It was nice to tie more solidly to Tokyo Drift, the movie I still haven't seen yet, and bring Hector back for two more lines. Paul's memorial though? Perfect. I was almost brought to tears. It was a great send-off and the best way to tie the franchise off with a nice little bow. Shame it's going to get undermined by the incomprehensible box office success. Furious 8 will crash and burn without Paul, I guarantee it.
On that note the lack of Paul was barely noticeable. I kept a keen eye out for some bad CGI of his face, but honestly it was so seamless I didn't notice any. The only time I could really tell was his last big fight scene with Tony Jaa. You don't see his face at all. It's all filmed in the dark using the same camera trickery they use with stunt doubles. You know it's Brian O'Connor, because you don't see a different face. The fact you don't see his face doesn't undermine that at all. Big props to how they handled that. That said, for the only particularly noticeable Paul-less scene, it was a bit superfluous and unnecessary. They could've just cut it out and saved themselves the bother.
Furious 7 is a disappointing send-off for Paul. It has some good ideas, particularly at the beginning, the ending is wonderful, and there's some real comedy gold here as well, but the whole middle section, forcing in a heist for no obvious reason, introducing new characters without reason, and not really developing them either, let the whole thing down. What breathed new life into the F&F franchise was a slightly new direction. That new direction has not only gone too far away from it's roots, but it's also starting to get very repetitive. I will not be rushing out to the inevitable Furious 8. I give Furious 7 a disappointing 6/10.