Furious 7

Rating: 9/10 (4 April 2015)

Deckard Shaw seeks revenge against Dominic Toretto and his family for the death of his brother.
You know what's more surprising than there's seven of these? The fact that they got better! Especially the last two movies, which are both very well directed action movies. Here James Wan - well known for The Conjuring and the Insidious films - is taking over the direction. I was truly excited for Furious 7 and it is actually a lot of fun: it is a big unrealistic good time with cars flying out of air planes using parachutes, explosions, fist fights and there are all great things! However a part of me has to sit back but I came to the conclusion that some movies aren't meant for that, some films are just meant to be awesomely dumb. This film knows it doesn't make sense at all, we watch it just to have a good time and not to be the most realistic movie in a franchise and it does that very well because every time something happened I was like "that's not possible", while simultaneously I stepped aside and was like "who cares, that's so cool!". I was so pleased with the car chase scenes in particular. James Wan was able to get some more intense camera angles. Moreover, the production had to face a major problem when Paul Walker tragically past away, everyone was really sadden by that, myself included; which may explain why the plots seem very confused and different. It's almost like two very different movies in one. And YES! It is painfully obvious when cgi Paul Walker is around, you can just tell and it makes it a little bit awkward. Still I can't, in good conscience, say too many negative things about that because it's unfortunate but unavoidable. Most of the fans are going to be satisfied with this film. It is a fitting send off for Paul Walker character. In fact the final scenes, when Paul Walker longtime colleagues say their farewells while he still appears on screen with them, is genuinely moving. Once again they handled that the best way they could. They really think through it, found the best way to do this movie in a respectful way while dealing with this tragedy.
Furious 7 incorporates a lot of the things that people liked about the franchise before it was taken to a whole new direction: particularly showing these drag races that they did in the first movie. Fans come to see a red sport car (one so expensive only seven were made) be stolen from a billionaire penthouse in Abu Dhabi; to watch it burst through his windows, fly through the air and crash into not one but two skyscrapers. Anyone who can buy that bit of computer-generated thing should have no trouble believing Paul Walker is in this movie from the start to finish. There are a little too much heavy weaponry for my taste. Like Dom, I prefer fist-cuffs and car chasing, to apocalyptic explosions. It's a typical 90's action movie, not only because of the action in it but the dialogues! If the movie was actually made in the 90's, where it belongs Arnold Schwarzenegger would be in this film. Finally, this film is not as well formed as the physique of Dwayne Johnson, who gave this ensemble a much needed charisma boost when he signed on in episode 5. He has a likable presence as an actor and he made them way better than they could have been; but I was disappointed because he's barely in this one. He's got a short but cool scene at the beginning and at the end but that's it. Plus, Jason Statham as a villain is a fantastic idea, but he's too underutilised in this movie as well. He shows up only to cause problems while the bigger picture is happening and then he's gone. Apparently it's no longer enough that turbo-boosted muscle cars drive really, really fast. Now they also have to fly.
Overall Furious 7 is both a stupidly entertaining and amazingly ridiculous movie. But most importantly it is a perfectly fitting send off for Paul Walker character