Film | Furious 7 | Review
The latest installment of The Fast and The Furious series simply dubbed Furious 7 hits theaters this weekend. I had a chance to see the film in all it's glory on the behemoth known as IMAX. I can safely say I have always been a fan of the series, even during it's up's and down's. The franchise recently became resuscitated after a few stale years of cheesy sequels and an relatively unknown cast of daredevil streetcar racers running from the law. We can all assume that the reintroduction of Vin Diesel to the franchise brought the franchise back to life, throw in Dwayne Johnson (The Rock) and the story lines are endless. With a franchise like this people have come to expect a no holds barred action thriller. Furious 7 delivers on all cylinders (there will be a lot of car references, you have been warned).
The cast is all back from the last time we saw them in London, this time Dekard Shaw the brother of Owen Shaw is out for revenge on the crew. With a personal vendetta as a motive, Shaw begins to hunt down the crew responsible for hurting his brother. A trained special forces commando Shaw becomes almost invinsible as he begins to target the crew. Although some of the dialogue is comical and often times full of cheesy one liners, the cast fulfills its roles as each one having their special quirks and demeanors. We once again have the tech savvy Tej played by Chris Bridges or as we know him Ludacris, the playboy Roman Pearce played by Tyrese Gibson. We also have a cast of new characters including Kurt Russell who heads a secret special ops team, the beautiful Nathalie Emmanuel who plays a central character Ramsey who holds the key to a software program labeled as "God's Eye". It's a back and forth cat chase as Dom and his crew try to keep the software away from the bad guys using it to their advantage to locate Shaw. The film takes us to exotic locations just like its predecessors from the bustling Los Angeles streets to the deserts of Abu Dhabi, there is no shortage of fast cars and scantily clad women. Throw in some cameos by Iggy Azalea and all around bad ass Ronda Rousey and you have a recipe for a nitrous filled ride of your life.
While some may enjoy the over the top stunts and explosions that have become the staple of the franchise, this particular film was without a doubt the hardest one for the cast. As we all know Paul Walker who plays Brian O'Conner in the movie past away during filming. Many believed that his character would be killed off during the film, not so much the case as it left the whole audience including myself a bit teary eyed during the final scene as a very touching tribute to one of the franchises most important characters took place. I applaud the filmmakers for the way they handled his absence and gave us all, as well as Paul a perfect send off that we will all remember.
With Summer blockbuster season about to begin Fast 7 delivered a great film without running out of gas. If you are a fan of fast tuned up modified cars, you may want to skip this one as Dom Toretto put it himself "This time it ain't just about being fast."
-Castro
