Review of Furious 7 (2015) by Andruw F — 01 May 2016

A different director may have been what the series needed, but not the one they changed to here, because James Wan shows that he's not a bad director, but that he excels in horror. It's the same writer as the previous four movies, and he shows that the series needs the combo of him and Justin Lin to even have a chance at being as good as Fast Five. With the untimely death of Paul Walker, and the movie having a hiatus before it was done, that may also be part of the issue. My two biggest cons though, are the lack of using The Rock and Jason Statham. Jason Statham was barely in the movie, which isn't good considering he's the villain. He just shows up when he's needed, and he's usually just needed to halt the progress of the team, the story, and the movie. And don't even get me started on The Rock, because it really made me angry that he was barely in the movie. With alright direction that is very dark, and writing that is messy, this doesn't reach the greatness of Fast Five, or even Fast & Furious 6. But it's as good as the first and fourth movies, which means it is still a good enough time. And it has a great tribute to Paul Walker.

With only one of the two main stars, the reviews of the next one will have to be REALLY good if I'm going to watch it.