Review of Furious 7 (2015) by Kevin P — 04 Oct 2018

Strengths: When you're this deep into a franchise, you must keep raising the stakes. Furious 7 does just that, taking everything and basically putting it on steroids. There are some truly mind blowing scenes in this one. The usual cast continue to be good, having mastered these characters over time, so I won't spend too much time on them. The people who should get the shine are the new additions. Jason Statham (Deckard Shaw) was a brilliant casting. He has the badass credibility to match up with the likes of Vin Diesel (Dominic Toretto) and Dwayne Johnson (Luke Hobbs). He also made for the most threatening and best villain in the series yet. Each time he was on screen, you felt like the heroes were in trouble. Nathalie Emmanuel (Ramsey) was also a great addition. She fit right in with the team and never felt like a strange add on. She got to take part in some major scenes. I also liked the small Ronda Rousey (Kara) role. She didn't do much in terms of action, but got to have the big fight with Michelle Rodriguez (Letty Ortiz) that we all wanted. There's more in terms of drama and strong character moments that help this edition stand out. The touching Paul Walker (Bryan O'Connor) montage was a tad cheesy, but a fitting tribute for the actor.

Weaknesses: As great as Johnson is, especially when playing alongside this cast, he's super underutilized in this one. He gets taken out early and returns near the end, but he's been so great in the past two installments that I wanted more this go around. Djimon Hounsou (Mose Jakande) was a lackluster villain, especially alongside Statham. Kurt Russell (Mr. Nobody) was fine, but also felt underused, as did Tony Jaa (Kiet). I guess that'll happen with such a big cast. As I noted, the stunts get bigger this go around, but sometimes, they reach a level that becomes unrealistic. It takes you out of the film when some of this happens.

Overall: It's right up there with Fast Five in terms of being the best installments in the series. Some stunts go overboard and a few cast members are underutilized, but the action is wild, there's a great villain, and it's the insane thrill ride the franchise does best.