FURIOUS 7

Reviewed by Patrick Gibbs

GRADE: B-
Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Tyrese Gibson, Michelle Rodriguez, Jason Statham, Ludacris, Jordanna Brewster, Djimon Hounsou and Kurt Russell  
Screenplay by Chris Morgan 
Directed By James Wan 
PG-13 (Violence, Profanity, Sensuality)

I vividly remember seeing the trailer for The Fast and the Furious in 2001, before The Mummy Returns, and then again with just about every other movie that opened that summer, and thinking that this thing was clearly going to be a flop. I usually have a pretty good track record when it comes to predicting box office: this is still one of the most significant exceptions.

A huge part of the longevity of the series has come in the gradual shift from urban crime thriller to international action extravaganza. In fact, ironically, where the series has succeeded best is in doing exactly what xXx failed at so spectacularly: turning Vin Diesel into a blue collar James Bond. Director Justin Lin and screenwriter Chris Morgan breathed a new, if ridiculous, life into the franchise, and as the movies became sillier and more outrageous, they became a lot more appealing as well.

At the end of Fast and Furious 6,  the villainous Owen Shaw had been taken down (I forget why), but it had come at a high cost: first, the beautiful Giselle (Gal Godot) had been killed (I forget how) and second, we had to sit through the ending credits to watch a lame stinger that featured Jason Statham showing up in Tokyo to kill racer Han Seoul-Oh, who had appeared in the last four films and was so memorably portrayed by some Asian actor whose name I frankly don't care to look up at the moment.  Statham then called Dominic Torretto (Diesel) to say he was coming for him.

In the interim between the two films, Justin Lin left the franchise because he was offered a gig directing the follow up to The Bourne Legacy (which has since been canceled, though Lin traded up all the way to helming Star Trek 3, or Star Trek 13, depending on how you look at it), and star Paul Walker was killed in a real car crash before shooting on part seven had wrapped. This left some big questions about the fate of the film, and for a brief time there was talk of scrapping it. But greedier heads prevailed, and here we are.
 
After defeating Owen Shaw and his minions, Dom and Brian and the rest of the gang are able to return to the United States and live normal lives again as they had wanted, until Owen's older brother, Deckard Shaw (Statham), makes his presence, and his desire for vengeance, known. After learning of the death of their dear friend what's his name, the crew sets out to find the man who killed one of their own, before he finds them first.

Meanwhile, in movie B, a terrorist played by Djimon Hounsou has stolen a MaGuffin that would have been rejected for a Mission: Impossible movie on the grounds that it was too implausible. The device, known as "God's Eye," is a small object that basically controls all cameras everywhere and "could have found Osama Bin Laden in less than two weeks."

A government agent (I forget his name) played by Kurt Russell, shows up and says "The government can't go after this, so we decided the next best thing would be to enlist the most resourceful middle school dropouts on the planet to do it" (I may have made up that line.). In exchange for this, they will let them use the device to find Deckard Shaw.

Yes, this is stupid, and I have not even scratched the surface. Seriously, this is more far fetched than the flimsiest of road runner cartoons. It's also undeniably fun, and at this point, there is clearly a deliberate element of comedy to the more jaw dropping moments of mayhem.

Director James Wan isn't as polished as his predecessor, but for a first feature, this is dazzlingly impressive in terms of action skill. My biggest complaints were some overly hyperactive camera work and a few too many blatant "ass cam" shots of racing girls that don't even try to play like they aren't highly deliberate "let's get a close up of that" moments.  We're not talking Catherine Zeta Jones in Entrapment (though this is certainly a better movie); these are full on "let me see that thong" roll your eyes moments.

The performances in the film, obviously, are not strong. The most surprising part is that perhaps the least convincing ones come from Djimon Hounsou and Kurt Russell. Hounsou, who made such a strong impression in Amistad, Gladiator and Blood Diamond, seems to have resigned himself to the fact that as an African-African actor (as opposed to an African-American actor), his glory days are behind him and all he can get is well paying gigs as exotically creepy villains. He's not even trying to be good here, and he clearly isn't being prodded to be, either. Russell is badly miscast as a cigar chomping man's man bad ass type, and his constant flamboyant arm gestures couldn't be more annoying. Both deserve better.

Diesel is Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez is real and charming enough to make you grit your teeth but still keep watching during more of the stupid amnesia subplot, and Paul Walker fans (and even non fans) should be pleased to see that he gets all of the very best action moments (the ones that are outrageous but not laugh out loud crazy), and he gets what passes for a character arc in these films. The filmmakers have gone to a lot of effort to make sure that Walker is given a proper send off, and the last five minutes of the film are so blatantly sentimental and maudlin that the only reason it works at all is the sincerity. It's especially clear that Diesel himself is a major force behind the unabashed display of emotion, and this makes it play just well enough to not send you into a diabetic coma.

This movie works because it knows exactly what it wants to be, nothing more and nothing less. It's going to be very pleasing to it's target audience and even be a fun guilty pleasure to some people outside of it.