Bonkers, over the top, but lots of fun.....

Rating: 7/10 (17 September 2015)

After defeating Owen Shaw, Dominic Toretto, Brian O'Conner and the rest of the crew have separated to return to more normal lives.
However, Deckard Shaw, Owen's older brother, is thirsty for revenge.
A slick government agent offers to help Dom and company take care of Shaw in exchange for their help in rescuing a kidnapped computer hacker who has developed a powerful surveillance program......
Since the franchise was pseudo-rebooted back in 2009, the makers of the films have just gone for broke with each instalment, so each one just gets that little more bonkers than its predecessor.
And here it's no different, and with the inclusion of Statham, and Russell at his most smug, the silliness never stops. With Statham as the antagonist, the film feels a little more urgent, and to say that Shaw is the most over the top character in the whole franchise is an understatement. He's like The Terminator, turns up everywhere out of the blue all guns blazing, but when the crew find him, he's usually just sitting there calmly, in the dark, almost as he's psyching himself up for the next major set piece, because it seems as if the film uses his character as a cue for an action sequence.
And it's business as usual for the rest of the crew, Johnson's hardly in it, as he was too busy with earthquakes, and the rest of the characters haven't changed, because they don't need to.
Walkers untimely death is handled with the utmost respect, and I defy anyone not to shed a tear during the final minutes of the film. It's feels as if it's the actors themselves talking about their friend, rather than the characters, and it's a perfect ending to his career.
Some of the effects though for Walker are very noticeable, and there were times when I couldn't help but think of the Burly Brawl from The Matrix Reloaded when the same CGI was used for Weaving.
And there is a scene where the gang are standing in a line and the camera is angler so we never see Brians face, and he is filmed from the back saying something. That really took me out of the movie for a few seconds.
But all in all, it's a solid movie, totally stupid, over the top, and never once in the real world, but that's why this franchise is so big, it takes you away from the real world, and entertains.