Review of Furious 7 (2015) by Filmgob — 29 Apr 2015

The whole gang, I mean family, is back again with new faces to join the mayhem. Fast & Furious 7 begins when Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) sets out for revenge against Dominic Toretto and friends for their part in his brother's downfall in London.

New additions like Kurt Russell, Tony Jaa, Ronda Rousey, Djimon Honsou and Jason Statham are given their moments of action but feel wasted, especially Statham as his hand to hand combat scenes were poorly shot. So it's the sensational (and well directed) vehicular warfare that everyone will remember.

Although not uncomfortable, scenes with Paul Walker were certainly distracting as I couldn't help but think where body doubles and CGI were involved. The death of the actor last year certainly changed the direction of this film and at times you can feel it. The story is passable, but not as engaging as the last entry in the series or Fast Five. It relies on insanely high amounts of adrenaline and testosterone to remain entertaining for the surprisingly long 140 minutes runtime.

The ending did get me all teary eyed with it's poetic tribute to Paul Walker, a perfect sendoff which fans will appreciate. If you like your action films big, crazy, silly, with extra cheese, Fast and Furious 7 will not disappoint.