A Gripping, High-Octane Thrill Ride!

Rating: 10/10 (3 April 2015)

Since 2001, The Fast and the Furious was indeed, by far, the most interesting film that defined street racing in popular culture. Now, jumping ahead over a decade later with this new movie Furious 7, it did more than just provide the usual car chases, extremely dangerous stunts, or intricate strategies the last films had shown many times before, it also brought out something more that is seldom seen in the entire film series: emotional depth.
Following from where both Tokyo Drift and Fast 6 left off, Dominic Toretto and his crew head out to pursue the mysterious individual responsible for killing one of their own. Upon finding this person, they realize there's more about him than what they initially thought.
With the departure of director Justin Lin (who helmed the previous four films) and upon passing his director's chair to horror filmmaker James Wan (of 'Saw' and 'Insidious' fame), he did quite an impressive job doing an action film, which diverts him from his usual norm, and that's not a bad thing. Normally, I watch the movies for its plot, but story-wise, it kept me further interested that I was left mind-blown and found it made perfect sense on how the previous events from the main films and its one spin-off intertwine with this current title. The action sequences were brilliantly executed and crafted cleverly within the new location settings like Abu Dhabi, especially when it further showcased how much a car can do than just simply driving or speeding in one. As car makes and models continue to evolve overtime, you'd know how useful they can be in such scenarios when you least expect it.
Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, The Rock, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Tyrese, and Michelle Rodriguez have really outdone themselves in this new outing, including additional cast member Jason Statham - who's no stranger to fast cars himself - as the villain, but of course the real honor goes to Walker. After his tragic passing during production of this movie, I felt this similar notion of loss when Brandon Lee lost his own life during filming of The Crow back in 1993. It's like when you see them perform on screen, you feel like they're still very much alive as long as people continue to watch what they loved doing. Jumping back to this film and to not give too much away, some scenes actually brought out an emotional tone for a few of the main characters. Although most of the crew would still continue doing the meticulous work they're known well for, there are moments where they express (if not verbally) good reasons for doing such. Overall, it's a film Walker did proudly and it was great seeing Lucas Black reprise his role of Sean Boswell from Tokyo Drift again since it basically helped set the stage for what Toretto's crew must do next. Though some audiences may call it "overhyped," "predictable," "mediocre," or even "overly sympathetic" due to the passing of a great actor, never once should it be taken for granted because I certainly enjoyed what I saw as the adrenaline in me kept pumping and the story didn't drag, only accelerated further. There wasn't a dry eye in the auditorium that night since I literally heard scattered, faint weeping and sobbing. Not to mention a touch of symbolism in one scene that made it so emotional. Thanks for the ride, Paul. My hat's off to you...