Rest in Peace, brother.
Directed by: James Wan
Cast: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Michelle Rodriguez, Jason Statham, Kurt Russell, Djimon Hounsou, Ludacris, Tyrese Gibson, Nathalie Emmanuel, The Rock, Ronda Rousey
Furious 7 is the continuing story of Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), his family, and their fast cars. In this installment, Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) and Mia (Jordana Brewster) are adjusting to family life with their young son, Jack. Brian is having a hard time with domestic life, as he misses the excitement of his old life. Also struggling is Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), who still suffers from memory loss from her previous accident. She leaves to “go find herself,” but she is not gone for long.
Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) is after the gang, and he wants revenge for what they did to his brother Owen (Luke Evans) in the previous film. If you don’t remember, Owen and his crew were attempting to steal parts to assemble a super military-grade weapon and sell it for tons of money. Dom and his family thwarted their plan, but not before losing a member of their family in the process. Deckard Shaw is ruthless, dangerous, and deadly. He was a pretty scary dude. It’s revealed that Deckard Shaw had a hand in the death of another of Dom’s family members, and when Deckard makes a threat that hits too close to home, Dom has to take action.
Enter Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell), a shady government official who really likes Belgian ale. He wants Dom and his team to help him capture Jakande (Djimon Hounsou), a terrorist who kidnapped a hacker named Ramsey who created a program called “God’s Eye,” which can track anyone, anywhere. Mr. Nobody makes a deal with Dom, that if Dom helps him rescue Ramsey and retrieve God’s Eye, he can use it to locate Deckard Shaw and take him out. Seems like a dangerous mission, but not for our heroes!! Tej (Ludacris) and Roman (Tyrese Gibson), who provide much comedic relief, arrive to help, and Letty comes back as well.
The newest member of the crew is played by Nathalie Emmanuel, who is also in “Game of Thrones.” Sometimes when someone new is introduced, they are annoying, but I was not irritated by her. Since Mia was MIA for most of this film, it felt like she filled in her place, and she was a good addition to the team.
There are several exciting fight scenes in this one, involving of course Lt. Hobbs (Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson) and Deckard Shaw, Kara (Ronda Rousey) because apparently there has to be an MMA fighter in all of these movies now, and Letty, Dom and Deckard Shaw, and Brian and one of Jakande’s henchmen (this is the one on the bus, if you’ve seen the previews).
There were also many instances of “do not try this at home” type stunts in this film. Each movie gets progressively more insane, but that’s why we love this franchise, right? I had many moments of “OMG did that just happen???” while watching this one. I want to talk about all of them, but I don’t want to spoil it so I won’t!
I most definitely enjoyed Furious 7. It was on par with the rest of the films in this series. Of course, most of us are aware that this was Paul Walker’s last film, as he tragically died during filming. His brothers were able to help complete filming, and it was very hard to tell the difference between Paul and his brothers. The last ten minutes of the film was a tribute to his character by the rest of the cast, and the last five minutes was Vin Diesel remembering his brother. Then there was a recap of scenes from all the previous films in the series, which caused many tears in the theater. It was very well done and a fitting send-off for the actor. R.I.P.
