Fast & Furious 7
Starring: Paul Walker, Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Jason Statham, Dwayne Johnson
Directed By: James Wan
Reviewed by Brendan Dousi

[Rating: 4/5]
It’s easy for someone not to think much of the Fast and Furious franchise. While they’re extremely popular, if you don’t usually watch those kinds of films it’s pretty easy to dismiss with other schlock like the Transformers films. I was actually kind of in this ballpark until I decided to marathon films 4, 5 and 6 of the franchise over an entire evening and I have to say, this stuff is good. Sure, it’s mindless entertainment but it’s mindless entertainment at its finest with some of the best action scenes caught on film and quite a bit of heart to boot. Now, after Paul Walker’s untimely demise, we’re faced with what is possibly the last film in this hefty franchise. Will they be able to gun it out on a high note or will they simply end up flooding the engine?
Fast & Furious 7 (or Furious 7) starts off where number 6 left off; the gang are all living out their lives normally with their millions earned in the 5th film and their American freedoms won from the 6th. Unfortunately, the badder and meaner older brother of villain Owen Shaw (Luke Evans) from the 6th, Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham), is out to lay some hurt on the guys that hospitalised his little bro. This is where events tie into the third film, Tokyo Drift, which saw Han die in a car crash and it is revealed that Deckhard Shaw orchestrated this as part of his revenge (Yes the third film is set between films 6 and 7, what of it?). Their very lives threatened by this deranged, highly trained murderer, Dom (Vin Diesel), Brian (Paul Walker) and the gang have to join forces with special agent Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell) and pull off a job that will allow them to track down Deckhard Shaw before he can pick them off one by one.
This film isn’t perfect by any means. It’s loud, obnoxious, over the top and almost unforgivably cheesy. Almost every word out of Dom’s mouth is a stunted one liner and, like all the films before it, the villain is a personality-less force for the gang to smash into a couple of times before finally toppling him. This all said, the film simply doesn’t care. If anything it relishes in its shortcomings. It is completely unapologetic and knows exactly what it is and what it wants to do. It wants to be loud, it wants to be obnoxious and it wants to be god damned entertaining. And it is. This film has such an honest level of fun to it that any shortcomings are quickly forgiven. At this point those flaws are part of the package, a signature that this is a Fast & Furious film and you should know exactly what you’re in for. Fast & Furious 7 is the ultimate comfort food of cinema, it may not have a lot of nutritional value but boy is it satisfying.
It’s impossible to not think about Paul Walker’s death while watching the film. It’s a looming presence that actual adds extra tension to any action scene he’s in as you wonder the fate of his character. How have they handled it? Are they going to kill off the character? I’m obviously not going to spoil what happens to the character for you, but I will note that they wrapped up the story of Brian O’Connor and Paul Walker in a surprisingly tasteful and heart-warming way. You most probably will find yourself trying to fight off manly tears as you exit the cinema. Extra props are deserved for Director James Wan and the team at WETA who almost seamlessly reconstructed scenes containing Paul. There’s definitely some uncanny valley there, a bit of haziness that isn’t on the rest of the faces, but I honestly felt like I wouldn’t have noticed if I hadn’t been looking for it. That coupled with purposeful camera angles and scene rewrites made for a surprisingly seamless experience that didn’t hinder the story in the slightest. Good job to everyone involved.
You know what you’re getting in to by now. Chances are that if you haven’t seen any of the other six films then it’s very unlikely you’ll see this one. Just rest assured that this is exactly the film you were hoping for with a beautiful end to Brian O’Connor and Paul Walker’s Fast & Furious story. This would be a perfect end for the franchise, but who knows if in the end making money will win out against good taste?