In some ways, it’s still hard to believe that the ‘Fast and
Furious’ franchise has now been going on for more than a decade. At first, it
was just a simple street-racing franchise that, while consistently commercially
successful, never were big hits with critics. But then, to everyone’s surprise,
it suddenly became one of the biggest film franchises in recent years. Having
not been a ‘fan’ of the series in its early years, the fourth film, 2009’s
‘Fast and Furious’, was the one that first got me interested in the series, even
though in retrospect I realize I’m kind of in the minority when it comes to
liking that film. Ultimately though, the series really started to shine with
the fifth entry, 2011’s ‘Fast Five’, the first entry in the series to, to
everyone’s surprise, do really well with critics. There were many reasons for
this upgrade in quality. There was the return of many of the series’ former
leads, resulting in the series’ first true ‘ensemble’ cast. There was the overall
shift in regards to the series’ plots from street-racing to heists. And of
course, there was the very welcome addition of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson in the
role of DSS agent Luke Hobbs. Just like that, the franchise became relevant
again, soon followed by an equally awesome, and arguably better, follow-up in 2013
in the form of ‘Fast and Furious 6’, the first entry in the series that I was
genuinely looking forward to. There’s no better way to say it; those last three
movies made me a ‘F&F’ fan.
Now Dom and his crew (or, to use a more proper term,
‘family’) are back for the seventh entry (yes, seventh) of the ‘Fast and
Furious’ franchise, ‘Furious 7’. This time, however, the film is under a different
director (a first since 2003’s ‘2 Fast 2 Furious’). James Wan, who has mainly
been known for his work on horror films like ‘Saw’, ‘Insidious’, and ‘The Conjuring’,
takes over directing duties from Justin Lin, who had directed every entry of
the series since 2006’s ‘Tokyo Drift’, for this new film. But of course, as we
all know, that isn’t the biggest headline surrounding the film. Sadly, a more
tragic one is. On November 30, 2013, while on break from shooting the film,
series lead Paul Walker was killed in a single-car accident. Filming was only
half-done at the time of his death so the production was temporarily put on
hold so that the filmmakers could figure out a way to finish the film without
Walker. As a result, ‘Furious 7’ now serves as not only a tribute to one of the
series’ biggest stars, but also as the final film for Walker’s character Brian
O’Connor. Needless to say, the film really delivers on representing Walker’s
legacy with the franchise. But of course, this is also a ‘Fast and Furious’
movie and even with the change in directors, ‘Furious 7’ still succeeds in
being a dumb and over-the-top but ultimately fun as hell action film that knows
exactly what it is and doesn’t try to be something it’s not.
At the end of ‘Fast and Furious 6’, former street
racer/criminal Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his crew; Brian O’Connor (Paul
Walker), Dom’s sister Mia (Jordana Brewster), Dom’s girlfriend Letty Ortiz
(Michelle Rodriguez), Tej Parker (Ludacris), and Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson)
had finally returned home to the States after helping DSS agent Luke Hobbs
(Dwayne Johnson) take down Owen Shaw and his crew in London. However, not long
after, they soon find themselves being hunted by Shaw’s older brother Deckard
(Jason Statham), who seeks revenge against Dom and co. for what they did to his
brother. As it was revealed in the post-credits scene for ‘Furious 6’, Deckard
was the one responsible for the death of Han (Sung Kang) in ‘Tokyo Drift’ which,
for those who are new to the franchise, is actually this new film’s immediate
predecessor being that it takes place after the events of the fourth, fifth,
and sixth films. He follows that up by injuring Hobbs and nearly killing Dom,
Mia, and Brian when their house is destroyed by a bomb. Not wanting to have to
deal with another funeral for one of their family members, Dom and his crew
team up with the government, specifically agent ‘Mr. Nobody’ (Kurt Russell), to
find a computer program known as ‘God’s Eye’, developed by hacker Megan Ramsey
(Nathalie Emmanuel), that would allow them to track anyone on Earth through
digital devices. In return, the gov’t will allow Dom and the crew to use it to
track down Shaw.
I mean, at this point, you should definitely know what
you’re getting yourselves into when you watch these movies; this is the seventh
entry in the franchise after all. You don’t watch them for the plot, that’s for
sure. In fact, the MacGuffin they’re after in this film is actually unnecessary
to their goal (I’ll explain why in a little bit). But of course, that’s not
what these movies are all about. By now, the filmmakers have become very much
aware of what these movies are; dumb fun, and they just roll with it. ‘Furious
7’ is no exception. Despite the fact that he’s not really as experienced in
regards to directing action compared to someone like Justin Lin, James Wan does
a really good job for his first major action film. The action sequences are
just as crazy and physics/logic-defying as ever. This is a film where cars drop
out of a plane, one super-fancy and super-rare car jumps between skyscrapers,
and the characters constantly find themselves doing death-defying stunts. Of
course, pretty much all of these stunts would be implausible in real life but
who cares? And like I said before, at this point who even cares about the plot?
It just serves as a way for Dom and crew to keep doing these awesome stunts. But
even with the minimalist plot, one common theme that has basically been the
defining trait of the whole franchise since the very beginning is the concept
of family, which is even more relevant in this one given the death of Walker.
Without spoiling anything major, he is given a really
fitting and touching send-off that is guaranteed to make even the toughest
folks cry. The camaraderie amongst the main leads, from Walker to Diesel to
Rodriguez to Johnson (by the way, some fans may be a little disappointed to
know that Hobbs’ role in this film is much more diminished then it was in 5 and
6 given that he’s taken out of commission early on by Shaw for most of the film)
to Gibson to Ludacris and so on and so on. And in my opinion, this is the
greatest strength of the franchise; the fact that the relationships between the
main characters feels very much genuine. Like with the last film, this entry
also benefits from some fun additions to the cast, from Russell to Emmanuel to
Djimon Hounsou, the latter of whom plays a mercenary who Dom and crew keep
running into. As the main villain, Statham definitely brings the right
intimidating presence in the role but ultimately he’s rather underused in some
cases. Remember that whole thing I said earlier about the whole MacGuffin of
the film being unnecessary? Well that’s because Shaw literally shows up for every
major set piece in the film. So really Dom and crew didn’t even need that
program to find Shaw because he always manages to find them first. He may be
the older brother of Owen Shaw, but in the end the younger brother is still the
best ‘F&F’ villain to date.
‘Furious 7’ probably won’t convert over anyone who isn’t a
fan of the franchise. Like its predecessors, it’s over-the-top, stupid, and
full of logic-bending, physics-messing, and death-defying stunts. But that’s
why they’re so damn entertaining to watch and ‘Furious 7’ is once again proof
of that. Yeah the plot is pretty weak, with the whole MacGuffin that the team
is looking for being ultimately pointless in the grand scheme of things, but as
I’ve said plenty of times in this review, who seriously goes into a film like
this looking for top-quality writing? ‘Furious 7’ is just loads of fun while
also maintaining the strengths of the most recent entries of the franchise,
namely the great camaraderie of its cast and perhaps most importantly its keen
sense of fun. I’ll admit that part of me kind of misses Justin Lin’s presence
behind the camera but overall James Wan does do a really solid job for what was
his first major foray into the action genre. And of course, I guarantee you
that you’re going to be crying when this film ends as the characters, the
franchise, and ultimately all of us say goodbye to Paul Walker. Regardless of
what you thought of him as an actor, it’s clear that he was, above all else, a
good man and he will be sorely missed. ‘Furious 7’ not only succeeds at being
what the ‘Fast and Furious’ movies have become in the last few years but by
also serving as a touching tribute to Walker’s legacy.
Rating: 4/5
#ForPaul
No comments:
Post a Comment