With Furious 7 the stunts, heist and action bonanza franchise again takes a leap and gives you the guilty pleasure of gravity defying, hi octane action that leaves you somewhat overwhelmed.
Debuting in the series is Director James Wan, known for SAW, Insidious and recent horror hit The Conjuring, who successfully transitions through the genres. Wan continues the path which the series that started as a story on illegal racing in L.A. has taken to a heist, crime thriller, and like the predecessors ‘Fast 5’ and Fast and Furious 6 takes the stunt and adventure to another level.
Dom’s crew is threatened by the ex-black ops, ruthless, shadowy assassin Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham), who is avenging his brother. Shaw has put Hobbs into hospital, and has killed Han (FnF6). Dom is offered a deal by covert ops lead Frank (Kurt Russell), to steal a futuristic tech from the grabs of a mercenary, and in turn Dom will be allowed to use the tech for finding Shaw.
There begins a chase that spans from Azerbaijan to Saudi Arabia, where we see our very own Ali Fazal in an interesting cameo. And ultimately they return to their home ground L.A. for the last showdown.
The stunts are aesthetically designed and exceptionally well executed. The flying car out of the plane reminded me of the flying car in the climax of Race 2. Also the narrow escape of Brian from the dropping bus is kind of felt similar to opening sequence of Uncharted 2 PS3 game.
Furious 7 car drop
Race 2 Scene
Furious 7 Paul Walker escape
Uncharted 2 opening scene
The hand to hand combats are clumsily edited and it became very difficult to cope up with the camera.
The one-liners are funny enough to keep you engaged. The crew has chemistry and it has been exploited well. Though you miss Brian and feel as if he is not there.
The whole movie just relies on Vin Diesel’s shoulders, Dwayne Johnson is missing from action for the most of the movie.
And then there are the forced emotional sequences which do not resonate with you much as they are anyways misplaced. The only one which stands out and might moist your eyes would be the tribute to Paul Walker at the end of the movie.
It doesn’t seem likely that the franchise is closing any time sooner and the massive opening it has received would definitely double the chances of return.
I would say if you are a fan of the franchise and you can stomach loud gun shots and car vrooms for 2 and a half hours go watch it.
