Somewhere between Vin Diesel power-sliding a muscle car under an exploding gas tanker in the fourth installment and dragging a safe through the Rio streets in the fifth — the Fast and Furious franchise became one of the most important in modern action filmmaking. What started as a laughable street racing drama has evolved into an annual carnival of explosions, stunts and obscenely jacked men beating the muscle tees off one another. With Furious 7, the franchise has solidified itself as Hollywood’s defining action event — where the wild fantasy of our imagination meets the hard streets of reality.
Director James Wan is best known for his horror fare like Saw, Insidious or The Conjuring — but he seamlessly adjusts to the action domain. Fight sequences are full of fun, innovative camera work, complimenting the choreography. Most impressive of all is how he presents Jason Statham’s character, who is out for revenge on the gang for killing his brother. Wan turns the character into a specter through editing, a monster that lurks in the shadows — bringing deadly cunning and brutality with him. Statham himself doesn’t bring much to the character beyond his established persona, but becomes memorable through the strength of direction. His climactic battle with Vin Diesel is blissfully absurd, yet genuinely pulse-pounding.
The magic of the Fast and Furious has always been in sequences that take super-powered cars, and use them in ways usually reserved for small kids playing with Hot Wheels. 7 lives up to this grand tradition, with sequences that are comic in their scale, yet are handled with excellent sincerity. In just one scene, Fast and Furious 7 transitions from free falling out of a cargo plane, to a dynamic car chase on mountain roads, to an intense fistfight, into an off road face-off. It’s the sort of complex action design unseen in most blockbusters, and makes Fast and Furious 7 some of the finest popcorn fare you can find. The effects and stunt work lean more practical than computer generated, and it lends a great deal to making Fast and Furious 7 feel real even at its most unbelievable.
If I have one complaint about Fast and Furious 7, it’s that it might actually have too much going on. The story is surprisingly complex, with multiple factions, shifting allegiances and doubt drawn upon characters new and old. Setup work is clearly being done for future films, but it comes at the consequence of Furious 7 as a standalone picture.
The cast is loaded with great action stars that do phenomenal work in their individual scenes, but aren’t given quite enough time to satisfy. The Raid’s Tony Jaa, Ronda Rousey (of UFC fame) and even Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson excel in their standalone moments, but leave you wanting more. This film could’ve kept going for another hour, and I wouldn’t have even batted an eye.
Of course, the elephant in the Furious 7 screening room is the tragic loss of Paul Walker (who died during a hiatus in filming back in 2013). The film was delayed for a full year as a result, in order to rework the script around the scenes shot before the accident. While such a task may seem impossible, Wan and his team pulled it off elegantly. Through a mixture of carefully planned shots, CGI touch-ups and Walker’s own brothers standing in — it’s damn near impossible to see the stitches holding it all together. Combined with a touching tribute that concludes the film, Furious 7 is a perfect farewell to a talented actor who left us all too soon.
It’s easy to write off films like Furious 7 as “dumb.” But more so than most mainstream releases, this is a picture that achieves the goals set out for itself. I challenge even the most cynical film snob to watch this without cracking a smile at its wild antics or feeling something real at its heartfelt ending. You will believe a car can fly.
Follow Chris Berg on Twitter @Mushroomer25