Fast & Furious 7 [Furious 7] *** (2015, Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Kurt Russell) – Movie Review

This time Jason Statham is the special guest star in the seventh episode of the Furious franchise, playing Deckard Shaw, who seeks revenge against Vin Diesel’s Dominic Toretto and his crew for the death of his brother in part 6.

Then there’s a James Bond-style plot in which a Djimon Hounsou plays a Somalian terrorist called Jakarde and Kurt Russell plays a shady government official called Mr Nobody, who are competing to steal a computer terrorism programme called God’s Eye that can turn any technological device on earth into a weapon.

That’s it for two hours and 20 minutes of predictable, over-long and over-CGI-ed but spectacular and exciting mayhem. The prolonged frenetic sequences of violence and action exactly fit the bill for all the Furious fans, but this time as a movie it feels like a bit of a lumbering juggernaut rather than a fast sports car.

It’s a shame that some of the action is just comic-book preposterous, because this loses any hold on reality. The franchise started out with fast car chases and car stunts but has ended up with CGI vehicles whizzing through the air into and through skyscrapers.

Of course the shadow of Paul Walker’s awful death hovers over the movie. In practical terms that means that his role of Brian O’Conner wasn’t complete and it looks like they’ve created much of it in the editing suite. This means he doesn’t share much dialogue, action or chemistry with Diesel, which should be at the heart of a Furious movie.

It’s also responsible for a lot of sentimentality in the movie, inevitably especially at the end, which is well meaning but a mistake. It’s dedicated ‘For Paul’ and that would be enough. No one really knows what to do at a time like this, but less is more, and more dignified.

Statham does the Statham hard man action turn, but hasn’t really got much of a role or character to work on, with little in the way of fun cynical dialogue to make it fly. He does, though, have two great fight scenes, one with Johnson and one with Diesel. Russell is better here, rather good, in an equally cypher role, but it’s all cynical dialogue for him to spit out.

What, though, has happened to Dwayne Johnson’s role as agent Luke Hobbs? He’s put out of action by Statham at the start and hospitalised till the very end of the movie. He was great in Furious 6, but has no room to shine here. Apparently, he was busy with filming on Hercules (2014).

Tyrese Gibson gets the comedy part as Roman, doing his best with it, and Ludacris tries to make a little of the Tej role. Michelle Rodriguez has a bit of grumpy kick-ass to do, and does it well, while Jordana Brewster is stuck with a dreary housewifey role to play.

Paul Walker was killed in a car crash on November 30 2013 and shooting in Atlanta was halted. Walker was nearly half way through filming at the time of his death. Although there was some thought given to scrap the film, it eventually resumed production after rewrites to address Walker’s absence and give his character a proper send-off. And the film does manage to do this, probably way against the odds.

Body doubles, stunt doubles, old franchise footage and CGI are used to complete the movie. Walker’s brothers Caleb and Cody are among the doubles, and also provide voice-over for his character.

Astoundingly, there is no 3D in the UK, but will be released in 3D in some Latin American countries, making it the first film in the franchise to be released in 3D.

After just 17 days in cinemas, Furious 7 crossed the $1 billion mark worldwide and became one of the highest grossing films of all time. It is the fastest film to achieve that benchmark and Universal’s first movie to reach $1 billion on initial release.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Movie Review

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