THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS series is one of the strangest franchises ever. I saw the first three pictures on cable and was not impressed. Then my roommate at the time dragged me to a midnight screening of the fourth installment, FAST & FURIOUS, and I really enjoyed it. The addition of Dwayne Johnson in FAST FIVE really raised the bar on the series and that remains my favorite. FURIOUS 6 was a worthy and very entertaining sequel. And now we have FURIOUS SEVEN which would have already been highly anticipated, but with the death of Paul Walker, interest is through the roof.

 

Director James Wan took over for Justin Lin, who directed the last four pictures, and on a single viewing he stepped in quite well. I don't think there is much of a style difference here, it felt just like the latest in the series. The real problem is in a series known for over the top stunts, this one goes way over the top into totally ridiculous. I'll give you one flying car. But in FURIOUS SEVEN, there are so many flying cars that they had me rolling my eyes.

 

I was thrilled by the tease at the end of FURIOUS 6 with Jason Statham as the new villain who would be hunting down Dominic Toretto and his family. Great premise. Except that's only half the story. Instead of doing a straight forward revenge movie, the plot is convoluted by the need to free a hacker named Ramsey and find her amazing new tech, the God's Eye. Which by the way, hasn't that already been done for years on TV's PERSON OF INTEREST? I never cared whether Ramsey lived or died, but she was a necessary means to an end for Toretto so that he could take the initiative and hunt down Statham's Deckard Shaw. But here's the problem with all of that… Shaw keeps showing up while Toretto & Company are dealing with Ramsey and the God's Eye. If Dominic is only doing all of that to find Shaw, when Shaw shows up out of the blue, why not change gears and focus all of your energies on killing him? Then you don't need Ramsey or the God's Eye and you won't have a brand new villain played by Djimon Hounsou on your tail. And the talented Hounsou is totally wasted here in an underwritten part.

 

I was also thrilled when I heard that Kurt Russell was joining the cast. From everything I heard, it was a small role, but it's actually not that small. The problem is that they use Kurt as Mr. Exposition. He seems engaged and charismatic and ready to play in this over the top action world, but when he's finally given an action moment to shine, it's really, really silly and lame. So Kurt Russell is totally wasted in this movie. That sequence also includes a pet peeve of mine that happens all the time. Kurt leads his Special Forces team on a mission and they have body armor and combat gear. Dominic and Brian go along with them in their casual clothes. No body armor. Really? Later we see Brian suit up in his combat gear for another mission, so what gives? It's so stupid.

 

Speaking of stupid, I'm not fan of Tyrese, but sometimes he is hilarious in these movies. That's really not the case here. Most of the attempts at humor fail miserably. And his grasp of leadership at a briefing goes on forever and is painfully not funny.

 

Lucas Black from TOKYO DRIFT shows up for a cameo. I love Lucas Black, but he's in his 30's now so he doesn't remotely look like the high school kid that he's supposed to be playing here. He should have been left out because he adds nothing but a brief shout out to TOKYO DRIFT.

 

The Letty has amnesia storyline is exhaustingly annoying. It is so soap opera and I really wish it had been resolved at the end of FURIOUS 6. Thankfully, it appears to be resolved in this installment.

Dwayne Johnson as Hobbs steals every scene that he is in. His fight with Jason Statham is awesome as is his cavalry moment. I only wish he had more screen time.

 

It was exciting to see Tony Jaa as an evil henchmen. But Tony Jaa versus Paul Walker is ridiculous. Jaa would destroy Walker in 30 seconds. I'm grateful that Walker doesn't outfight him and instead outsmarts him.

 

I love Ronda Rousey versus Michelle Rodriguez. What a great fight. And while Rousey is stunning, she's also a beast and I loved seeing her kick Rodriguez's ass. And again, thankfully things don't end with Rodriguez somehow outfighting her.

 

Vin Diesel versus Jason Statham is equally awesome. But there is so much going on during the climax that at one point they cut away from their fight for something like 10 minutes and when they come back you realize, oh yeah, they're still fighting! It would have been way more exciting to have toned the spectacle way back and make it all about Toretto versus Shaw. Think STREETS OF FIRE. Think LETHAL WEAPON. But no, it's drowned in spectacle as if the filmmakers don't trust the audience in believing that Vin Diesel versus Jason Statham is awesome enough.

 

The mountain assault on the bus is a big, fun sequence, but it's hard to get past steering cars out of a plane onto a fairly small mountain road. I think you would lose a couple along the way. And how exactly do you steer a falling car?

 

As you probably know, Paul Walker died during production and the filmmakers had to find ways to complete scenes with his character that he never filmed. I would say overall this was done well, but three scenes stood out to me through the course of the movie. Casual viewers probably won't notice though.

 

There is a nice, emotional sendoff for Paul Walker at the end and I've heard lots of people have shed tears over it. The problem is that it makes no story sense whatsoever. Assuming there is a part 8, if Dominic or any of the "family" is in trouble, Brian would be the first one to show up to help. You can't explain that away that he's retired or busy or something. That's a big misstep.

 

There's no doubt that FURIOUS SEVEN is entertaining and gives you your money's worth. So if you love the series, it's a must see. Unfortunately it's not nearly as good as the last two installments and the action is ridiculously over the top to an eye rolling level.