By Brenton Thom FURIOUS 7 is the seventh installment of the FAST AND FURIOUS franchise. What makes this movie memorable is the fact that one of the actors in the film, Paul Walker (who plays Brian O’Conner), died half-way through the filming of the movie. To complete it, the creators (most likely) re-worked the script and had his brothers fill in for some scenes, in addition to using CGI to digitally insert Walker's likeness. Although Walker’s death was a tragedy, we’re not here to talk about that, we are here to talk about the movie and how it became a cinematic tragedy in itself. That sounds harsh, so I want to clarify: I didn’t hate the movie. I saw FAST 6 when it came out a few years ago and enjoyed that movie, and I've immensely enjoyed the series as a whole. But the truth is that Walker's death definitely makes the movie feel “off.” It’s hard to put my finger on it, but the movie doesn’t have the same charm as the other films in the franchise. Yes, it tries to conlcude the end of the story with elements here and there. In the movie Brian and his wife Mia have a kid together and he struggles to adapt to being an everyday, normal dad. Dom, played by Vin Diesel, picks up where he left off in the last movie, trying to convince Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) that they have a history together. At the same time Ian Shaw, played by Jason Statham, arrives to get revenge for his younger brother (the villain of the previous film) and starts terrorizing the people involved, including attacking Dom and his group of friends. What feels off about this movie is that it becomes the Vin Diesel Show. He’s centered more in the action and it seems the movie's more about him, rather than Brian and Dom as a pair. Sure, Brian may have his action scenes, which are intense, but it doesn't feel the same. What feels very off is we’re introduced this new character Ian Shaw who is a deadly and ruthless killer, but as soon as he’s chased down by Dom completely alone, Shaw just runs away when out of left field comes Kurt Russell as some mysterious government man. And he’s part of some secret agency trying to track down some other plot point item/”MacGuffin” that has nothing to do with Shaw, which leads to other sequences that Shaw occasionally just pops in and out of. The point I’m trying to make is the writing is kind of sloppy and feels like bits and pieces of different stories. Again, this probably had something to do with Paul Walker's death. The action that does happen is good. The stunts of the cars parachuting and the road chase with the weaponized RV is great. A close second is the car escape between the Etihad Towers in Abu Dhabi. The sad part is those are the only two memorable action scenes in the movie. Everything else feels different from that. Now the other problem with the movie is the ending. If you’re not looking for spoilers than I suggest you stop reading here and skip to the last paragraph, but it’s nothing you couldn’t figure out for yourself either. After the bad guy is stopped and captured, Brian, Dom and the others celebrate on a beach. We see Brian, his wife Mia, and his daughter, playing in the water. The characters then look at Brian and reflect on how he can no longer go on their dangerous adventures, for Brian has his family now. They talk about saying goodbye, but Dom leaves without saying goodbye in his classic muscle car. As Dom drives down the road, Brian pulls up in his white import, a Toyota Supra, similar to the vehicles they raced way back in the first movie. The two cruise down the road together and eventually break off in the fork in the road. Brian drives toward the sunset. We hear music and see flashes of their past time together from previous movies. This is the tear-jerker here, but this is also the problem. From a story standpoint, it doesn’t work. It works as the filmmakers and the actors saying goodbye to their friend and fellow actor, but as an element of the story it doesn’t work. If Paul Walker didn’t die, this scene wouldn’t make much narrative sense or have any of the emotional impact that it does. Overall, this movie was kind of boring to watch, despite a few good action bits. Outside the action, I kept checking my watch to see how much time was left. The plot didn’t keep me engaged, and felt like it was stretching to get from action to action. If you’re a fan of big screen explosion, sexy women, and fast cars, it might be worth seeing on the big screen. Otherwise, wait until Blu-ray.
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