Furious 7 came out last weekend and I had the chance to see in on Saturday night. I thought the movie was incredibly fun. I would argue that Fast 5 is the best movie of the franchise but Furious 7 ranks up there as one of the better ones. It is one of those movies where you go to the theater just to have a good time. You don't care about the complexity of the story, the meaning of a film, or the failure or success of the acting. You go for the jokes, the cars, the car chases, and the action sequences, and this movie delivered on all counts. I laughed and had a great time.
From the beginning of the movie when Jason Statham wrecks havoc on a London hospital until the climatic sequence the film ups the ante with every sequence. One of may favorite sequences in the film was when Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's Hobbs fights Statham in Hobbs' office. The fight was intense with the coolest moment being The Rock using his WWE finisher, The Rock Bottom, on Statham through a glass table. It was epic. By the end of the scene, Hobbs' is out of action and in a hospital with severe injuries and Statham slips away to go destroy Dom Terretto and his family and friends.
Even though this scene was awesome it highlights one of my problems with the cinematography for the film. Even though this film is meant to be fun and I didn't go looking to be blown away by the cinematography. There were a few moments in this movie that were so jarring that I was taken out of the movie. In the RockvsStatham fight, the camera does a complete 360 degree spin as The Rock Rock Bottoms Statham through the table. The camera spin was completely unnecessary. I think it actually took away from the whole scene. This kind of thing happened constantly throughout the film. Weird camera moves, odd slow-motion action bits, and other things in the complete control of the director. If it only happened once or maybe twice it wouldn't have been a problem, but it kept happening. It is my only complaint about the film.
The rest of the movie was just awesome. There were cars being dropped from airplanes. High-speed mountain car chases while taking down a bus armed with like a dozen mini-guns. Jumping a sports car between three buildings in Dubai. A car chase in LA involving a drone and a heavily armed helicopter. The Rock busting out of a cast and using a mini-gun to shoot down a helicopter. People getting passed between cars while traveling at high speeds and doing donuts. A huge fight between Vin Diesel and Statham and a final, insane car stunt off the side of a collapsing parking garage. This movie never took a break and was exactly what one expects going into the theater.
But the big story going into this movie was Paul Walker. Paul, one of the stars of the franchise, tragically died during production in a car accident. They were not filming a scene when he died. Once production restarted, his brothers filled in for him when they needed Brian O'Connor in a scene. This was done almost seamlessly. You mostly couldn't tell they were in a scene and when they needed an action scene they expertly shot them in dark rooms and kept his face obscured. It was really well done. The big question ended up being how they would write Paul's character off of the franchise while also honoring the crew's lost friend. Going into the film I was convinced that Brian would die a heroic death trying to save his family. The whole plot of the movie ended up being Dom and Brian trying to protect their family, so it opened up a whole maze of possibilities.
This move was brilliant because they teased Brian's death over and over again. He was put in countless situations where you thought he might die. He walked past a bomb in a box. When the bomb went off he heroically shielded his son from the blast but his head smashed into a pane of glass. He almost fell off a cliff while saving a hostage. He almost died in the car jump sequence in Dubai. He was in a gunfight against Statham and a group of terrorists. He was chased by a drone and shot at by missiles in the streets of Los Angeles. He had a fist fight with a martial arts expert. Over and over again the film put Brian in positions where I thought he was going to meet his end, but it never happened. This was genius. It kept the audience on the edge of their seats the entire time and invested in the story, which honestly was kinda complicated and jumpy. It made you care more. They even teased the death of Dom for a moment just to play with your emotions. It said, "You all expect Brian to die, so instead we will kill Dom." The film took the viewer on an emotional roller coaster. It was great. In the end Brian didn't die and the film ended with a scene where the characters watched Brian play with his son and think about their friend. They were no longer talking about Brian but really about Paul. It was beautiful. Dom leaves the family gathering and is driving down the road thinking about Brian and they included a montage of moments of Paul from previous films. Then Brian pulls up alongside Dom and says "Think you could get away without saying good bye?" They smile at each other, drive along with each other for a moment, then Paul takes an exit and drives off into the sunset. It was beautiful and was the best ending I could have hoped for. It was absolutely touching. I don't cry in movies, but I was definitely feeling this ending. It was a mixture of sad and happy and it was just right. It couldn't have been better.
I loved this movie and felt that it would be the perfect ending for the entire franchise. It wrapped every loose end up and felt like a natural ending. I wouldn't be opposed to seeing it end now. But the movie made almost $150 million in the United States its opening weekend, the most money for any April film ever, and one of the highest grossing opening weekends in film history. Based on that alone I believe that there will be more movies in the franchise. But instead of doing Fast 8, I think they should spin off the movies. Come up with a new title and create a new series which focuses on Vin Diesel's character Dom and The Rock's Hobbs. Have them permanently team up and turn the films into action films where Dom and Hobbs work to stop criminals and prevent cataclysmic disasters and take down terrorist organizations. They could be a lot of fun. The series took a new and different turn in Fast 5 when it became a heist movie and The Rock joined the cast. His character is one of the most interesting character additions to a franchise in the last decade and breathed new life into a franchise that was risking becoming really repetitive. Instead the tone and type of film changed and the franchise made 3 more films. Seeing a franchise centered on the Hobbs character would be, in my opinion, the next step forward. Leave all the other characters alone so that Brian's story is left alone in its glory and move the focus to Hobbs. Bring in Dom because Diesel's and The Rock's chemistry is really good. I would definitely be on board to see more films staring these two.
As for Furious 7, I thought it was great. It was fun, exciting, and the perfect summer blockbuster. I wish more movies would just try to have fun, because this movie did that and succeeded. It may not be the best movie ever, but that was never the goal. They set out to make a fun movie that people could enjoy and they succeeded. I give this movie a 4/5.
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