Saturday, April 4, 2015

Furious 7


proved to be just about everything I had hoped it would be, and then some.  Though I could make cases for both the fifth and the sixth films in the franchise--and this most definitely is now a dream Hollywood franchise--being the best of the group, overall I have to go with Furious 7 as the winner.  If you liked any of the previous films in the series, you will not want to miss this one.

Within the class of summer action blockbuster films, what flaws this movie has boil down to not enough screen time for all the great stars involved.  I would have loved more minutes of Jason Statham, The Rock (Dwayne Johnson), Tony Jaa, and Ronda Rousey, to name but the four most notable folks.  When your biggest complaints about a film, though, are that you wish it gave you even more minutes--and it clocks in at 2:20--you're really searching for flaws.

Now, if we want to evaluate Furious 7 as a serious film, then we would have to critique it for being completely absurd in plot, dialog, and acting--but why would we do that?  If you walk into the theater to see this one, you know what you're in for.

I'm not giving away much by noting that the end of the movie is a loving farewell to Paul Walker, who as all fans know died before they had finished the initial shooting.  Though this segment was obviously and directly designed to yank our emotional chains, it succeeded, and I was genuinely touched by the affection the filmmakers seemed to feel for Walker.  Everyone I spoke with felt the same way.

All during this movie, people throughout the audience were saying "Yes!" and making similar happy comments and noises.  At the film's end, the audience clapped.

If you want a big-time summer action film, run, maybe even race, to Furious 7.




2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes, it had great action and great f/x visuals, and maybe that's enough for people who love great action and great f/x visuals. But, it also had the stupidest dialog, the worst acting, and the most cringe-worthy "love" scenes (if you want to call them that), and other than the very nice homage to Paul Walker at the end (which I agree was extremely touching), this was the dumbest movie I have ever scene. I was apparently the only one in the theater counting the minutes until its final and blissful end.

Mark said...

I've clearly seen far more dumb movies than you have. Seriously, fair points, and I'm sorry it didn't work for you.

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