"FURIOUS 7" (2015) Review

"FURIOUS 7" (2015) Review

Following the success of 2013's "FAST AND FURIOUS 6", I felt sure that the FAST AND FURIOUS movie franchise would finally end. After all, Universal Studios and director Justin Lin had proclaimed the fourth, fifth and sixth films as part of a trilogy. But to my utter surprise, the producers announced their intention for a seventh film by ending "FAST AND FURIOUS 6" on a cliffhanger. 

Anyone who has seen the sixth film knows that Dominic Toretto, Brian O'Conner and their circle of friends had assisted Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) Special Agent Luke Hobbs in taking down mercenary Owen Shaw in exchange for the clearance of their criminal records and finding Dom's lady love, the amnesiac Letty Ortiz. Their actions had left Shaw in a coma and a return to normal life. However, Dom and his friends learn that Shaw's older brother, a rogue special forces assassin named Deckard Shaw, is seeking revenge against the team for what happened to the younger brother. The end of "FAST AND FURIOUS 6" revealed that the older Shaw was responsible for Han-Seoul-Oh's death in Tokyo, which was first seen in the 2006 film, "THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS: TOKYO DRIFT". Next, Shaw nearly kills both Agents Hobbs and Elena Neves in an explosion at the DSS Los Angeles Field Office, leaving Hobbs seriously wounded. After Shaw sends a package that destroys the Toretto home in Los Angeles, a C.I.A. covert team leader named Frank Petty recruits the remaining friends to help him prevent a mercenary named Mose Jakande from obtaining a computer program called the God's Eye that uses digital devices to track specific people, in exchange for allowing them to use the latter to find Shaw first. Unbeknownst to the others, Shaw has allied himself with Jakande to take down Dom, Brian and the others.

I must admit that on paper, "FURIOUS 7" struck me as a first-rate story. Screenwriter Chris Morgan, who has been writing for the franchise since "TOKYO DRIFT", did an excellent job of continuing the story first set up in "FAST AND FURIOUS 4". He even managed to skillfully connect some of the story acrs of the franchise's past films with this latest plot. This was especially the case for Han's death in "TOKYO DRIFT", his romance with Gisele Yashar and friendship with Sean Boswell; Letty's amnesia, which was never resolved in "FAST AND FURIOUS 6"; and, of course, the Shaw brothers. Morgan also did a solid job in utilizing the situation regarding Frank Petty, Mose Jakande and the God's Eye device for the team's search for Deckard Shaw. And although I feel that James Wan lacked Justin Lin's more technical skills as a director, I thought he did a pretty good job in handling a high budget production that was nearly derailed by Paul Walker's death.

One would have to be blind not to notice how beautiful "FURIOUS 7". Then again, that has been the case for the entire franchise since the first movie. One has to thank Stephen F. Windon, who has worked on the film franchise since"TOKYO DRIFT", and Marc Spicer for their colorful and sharp photography. The beauty of their work was especially apparent in the Abu Dhabi sequences. Speaking of Abu Dhabi, it also featured some of the movie's best action scenes. One of them featured a fight between Michelle Rodriguez's Letty Ortiz character and martial artist Ronda Rousey, who portrayed the head of security for an Abu Dhabi billionaire. Another featured an attempt by Dom and Brian to steal the billionaire's car, which contained the God's Eye device. This scene also led to one of the most spectacular stunts I have ever seen on film. In an attempt to escape the billionaire's security team, Dom drives the stolen car through a series of hi-rise buildings that . . . hell, I do not know how to describe this stunt. It has to be seen on the movie screen in order to believe it. 

The movie also featured another over-the-top stunt, in which the team airdrop their cars over the Caucasus Mountains in Azerbaijan, in order to ambush Jakande's convoy and rescue Megan Ramsey, the creator of God's Eye. For some reason, I was not that particularly impressed with this particular stunt. Perhaps it is because I found the sequence a little too frantic and clumsily shot. The best aspect of the Azerbaijan sequence was the fight scene between Brian and one of Jakande's men, a martial artist named Ket. Not surprisingly, the film's producers hired martial artist/actor Tony Jaa to portray Ket. They were also lucky in that Paul Walker had been a martial artist for several years, himself. The pair, along with fight choreographer Jeff Imada, created a first-rate fight scene. They also managed to repeat themselves with another excellent fight scene staged inside an empty building in downtown Los Angeles. Imada also served as the choreographer between the Rodriguez/Rousey fight scene in Abu Dhabi and a surprisingly effective fight between Dwayne Johnson's Luke Hobbs and Jason Statham's Deckard Shaw near the film's beginning. The only fight scene that failed to impressed me occurred between Vin Diesel's Dominic Toretto and Shaw on a downtown L.A. parking structure. If I must be honest, there seemed to be too much testosterone and dialogue, and not enough skillful moves to impress me. It almost seemed as if director James Lin overdid it in his attempt to transform this particular fight into a showstopper. Instead, the fight simply bored me.

However, the Toretto/Shaw fight scene was not the only disappointing aspect of "FURIOUS 7". I had other problems with the movie. Exactly how many years had passed between "FAST AND FURIOUS 6" and "FURIOUS 7"? After watching the 2013 movie, I had assumed that Deckard Shaw had killed Han Seoul-Oh at least a few months after the events of the movie. But in "FAST AND FURIOUS 6", Brian O'Conner and Mia Toretto's son Jack was still an infant. "FURIOUS 7"revealed that young Jack was a toddler between the ages of 2-5 around the time of Han's death. So . . . I am confused. Another problem I had with the film was the dialogue written by Chris Morgan. I might as well be frank. Dialogue has never been a strong point with the FAST AND FURIOUS franchise. But I was surprised that only three characters were forced to spew some of the worst dialogue I had ever heard in the entire movie franchise. And that bad dialogue came out of the mouths of Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham. It seemed as if the three actors were engaged in some kind of verbal testosterone contest to see who is the toughest. No wonder some critics had claimed that the movie's three worst performances came from them. And if this was not bad enough, I had to endure that uber-machofight scene between Diesel and Statham that really unimpressed me. Worse, the movie featured a moment in which the convalescing Agent Hobbs becomes aware of a struggle between Dom's team and the combined Shaw/Jakande alliance inside his hospital room. So, what does he do? Hobbs flexes a muscle, forcing his cast to tear apart. It was one of the most wince-inducing moments I have ever seen on film.

According to the movie's publicists, Universal Studios and the producers had decided not to kill off the Brian O'Conner character, because of actor Paul Walker's death. For that I am utterly grateful. Learning about his death had been difficult enough. I certainly did not want to see the same for his character on screen. However, the public was told that instead of being killed off, Brian's character would retire at the end of the movie. This announcement left me confused. Retire from what? Brian's law enforcement career ended in "FAST AND FURIOUS 4", when he helped Dom Toretto escape from a prison bus. His brief career as a criminal ended, following the successful Rio de Janeiro heist in "FAST FIVE". Brian and the rest of the team's actions in the sixth movie revolved around their search for an amnesiac Letty Ortiz and efforts to get their criminal records cleaned. As for this seventh movie, they were mainly concerned with finding Deckard Shaw before he can kill them all in retaliation for his brother's condition. So, from what exactly was Brian retiring? The producers could have simply stated that Brian, Mia and their son had moved to another city . . . and away from Dom and Letty. How did retirement fit into all of this?

I also had one last problem with "FURIOUS 7" - namely the Roman Pearce character, portrayed by Tyrese Gibson. Ever since his first appearance in 2003's "2 FAST 2 FURIOUS", I have been a fan of Roman and Gibson's portrayal of him. But I have become aware of the franchise's recent portrayal of him as the team's clown. When this happen? Oddly enough, it began with "FAST FIVE" in which the Tej Parker character made a few snarky comments at his expense. In the 2011 film, it was mildly amusing. In "FAST AND FURIOUS 6", it got a little worse. But the Azerbaijan sequence pretty much solidified Roman's role as the team's clown. This sequence nearly made him a dye-in-the-wool coward, when he originally refused to participate in the car jump. What the hell? Roman has always been a verbose, temperamental and impulsive guy. But he was also a very pragmatic man, who always seemed to have a more realistic view of their situations than any of the other characters. This does not mean he was gutless. Why on earth did the franchise decided to make him this embarrassing clown? And why team him with Tej, who always seemed hell bent upon humiliating him? One of the aspects of "2 FAST 2 FURIOUS" I enjoyed so much was that Roman and childhood friend Brian O'Conner had struck me as a well-balanced screen team. Brian never went out of his way to constantly humiliate Roman . . . like Tej. And Roman never treated Brian like some adopted offspring . . . like Dom. But the producers were determined to exploit the original Dom/Brian relationship in the movies, starting with "FAST AND FURIOUS 4". And in order not to leave Roman out of the loop, they teamed him with Tej Parker, whom he first met in the 2003 film. Unfortunately, Tej (through screenwriter Chris Morgan), has transformed poor Roman into a clown.

Clown or not, Roman had the good luck to be portrayed by Tyrese Gibson, whom I believe is one of the better actors in the main cast. Mind you, he is no Kurt Russell, Djimon Hounsou or Elsa , but I still believe he is slightly better than the other actors and actresses in the movie. Speaking of Russell, he gave a dry and witty performance as shadow agent Frank Petty. The actor injected a good deal of sharp wit into a film nearly marred by bad dialogue. As for Hounsou, he made an effective and intelligent villain, capable of thinking on his feet and quickly exploiting a situation or individual. In my review of "FAST AND FURIOUS 6", I had commented on Paul Walker's increasing skill as an actor. This improvement of Walker's acting skills were obvious in scenes that reflected his character Brian O'Conner's struggle to adapt to a family lifestyle, his conversation with wife Mia two-thirds into the film and his reaction to Dom's decision to drive a stolen car through the window of an Abu Dhabi skyscraper. Another memorable performance came from Michelle Rodriguez, who continued her portrayal of Letty Ortiz's struggles to deal with amnesia. This was especially apparent in a scene in which the actress had to convey her character's frustration in facing fleeting memories of the past and Dom's attempts to help her regain her memories. The movie also featured solid performances from Jordana Brewster (who was missing throughout most of the film), Chris Bridges aka Ludicrous, Nathalie Emmanuel, Lucas Black (of "THE FAST AND FURIOUS: TOKYO DRIFT"), Elsa Pataky, Ali Fazal and Tony Jaa. Even Ronda Rousey, despite her lack of acting experience, was appropriately intimidating as the billionaire's head of security. She is no Gina Carrano, who acting managed to improve by "FAST AND FURIOUS 6", but she was effective.

I know what you are thinking. What about Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham? Surely they were not that terrible? All three actors are pretty decent performers. But "FURIOUS 7" did not show them at their best. As I had earlier hinted, all three were hampered by Chris Morgan's machismo dialogue and attempt to raise the testosterone level, via their characters. But each actor had their moments. Diesel's best moments were featured in his scenes with Rodriguez. Johnson's best moments occurred in the film's first half hour, which included his character's fight against the Deckard Shaw character and his playful interactions with Elsa Pataky's Elena Neves. And Statham's best scene in the film, at least for me, was his first. This featured Deckard Shaw's visit to his comatose brother's hospital room, in which he expressed tenderness and family concern for the latter (portrayed by Luke Evans in a cameo appearance). Otherwise, Diesel, Johnson and Statham proved to be problematic for me in so many ways.

I am not saying that "FURIOUS 7" is a terrible movie. It would probably be considered terrible by certain fans and moviegoers, whose tastes in films are a lot more elitist or intellectual. But as action films go, it is pretty decent and a lot of fun to watch. Yes, I found it difficult to endure some of the movie's bad dialogue, the re-imaging of the Roman Pearce's character into a clown and the over-the-top machismo portrayed by Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham. And James Wan does not exactly strike me as skillful a director as Justin Lin. But, I believe "FURIOUS 7" is still a fun-filled action flick and a worthy last film for the late Paul Walker.





R.I.P. Paul Walker (1973-2013)