“Remember Owen Shaw? This is his big, bad brother: He’s a special forces assassin, they created a monster.”
After making a cameo appearance in the closing credits of “Fast and Furious 6“, Jason Statham returns to “Furious 7” for his role as Deckard Shaw. As seen in the 2013 film, he was the driver who flipped Han’s (played by Sung Kang) vehicle, causing him to die from car explosion in Tokyo. Deckard is not quite done with what he had done to Han, of course.
He is still out to get his revenge on the people who are responsible for the “death” of his brother Owen Shaw (played by Luke Evans). Thus, he continues to exact his revenge upon Vin Diesel‘s Dominic Toretto and the gang through the latest instalment of the “Fast and Furious” franchise.
“Furious 7” is a brilliant movie on many different levels, but you will forget what it is about almost immediately after you watched the tribute video for the late Paul Walker at the end of the film.
Now, don’t get us wrong. We are only saying this because one of the most talked about scenes is their touching tribute for Walker. The latest instalment of the “Fast and Furious” franchise is no longer just about the revenge between Deckard and Dom as memories of Paul Walker came flooding back after we watched it. “Furious 7” is, after all, Walker’s final film before he passed away in an ill-fated real-life car crash.
Other than that, the movie has a purpose far more bigger than the revenge plot as well. It tackles some issues that Michelle Rodriguez’s Letty faced in the past, showing a certain level of character development. The story goes beyond the revenge plot, which helps set it apart from other revenge-driven films.
Director James Wan carries the burden of making sure that this film crosses the finishing line with some sentimental “family” scenes while engaging the audiences with multiple adrenaline-pumping action sequences.
After previous helmer Justin Lin’s years of directing consistency in the franchise, James Wan’s camerawork is noticeable in this particular film. Although he is able to maintain the film’s momentum by including fast cars and bikini-clad women, he features more one-to-one fighting scenes than car-racing scenes throughout its 140 minute runtime.
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We are not complaining though, because it offers some of the best death-defying sequences we’ve ever seen in the “Fast and Furious” franchise. The narrative structure flows naturally when attempting to explain why Dom and his gang do what they have to do in it. From parachuting their vehicles out of a plane to launching a $3.4 million supercar between Abu Dhabi’s skyscrapers to hacking into myriad digital networks, it is able to offer us some logical explanations for their illogical action sequences.
Although the movie is not meant to be a comedy, it is nothing short of comedic reliefs too. As usual, Tyrese Gibson tones down the overall intensity of the film with his role as car expert extraordinaire Roman Pearce. He is notorious for his big mouth, but the others (especially Ludacris’ Tej) were having fun picking on him too.
Audiences will be surprised when they watch “Furious 7” because it will feature a number of cameo appearances. As we mentioned in our “Fun Facts” post, Iggy Azalea and Ali Faizal will have a few scenes with the cast. Martial arts legend Tony Jaa, Dwayne Johnson, and MMA fighter Ronda Rousey are featured as well – which/whose side were they on? You’ll need to watch the movie to find out ;)
As for Kurt Russell and “Guardians of the Galaxy” star Djimon Hounsou, they play 2 different agents who are after a piece of technology invented by hacker Ramsey (“Game of Thrones” star Nathalie Emmanuel). Russell’s character seeks help from Dom and the gang, promising them that they can use that piece of technology to locate Deckard.
James Wan is lucky though, as Walker had already finished most of the stunt scenes before he passed away from the car crash. However, the director still needed to work around the death of Paul Walker, which explains why there were noticeable voids in the film. With the aid of CGI, Walker appeared somewhat unnatural.
But the ending is perfect. The cast took an honest approach to the tragedy by bidding their precious friend a touching farewell.
“Furious 7″ is the first sequel which was not directed by “Star Trek” director Justin Lin or the co-star director Sung Kang. It is slated for release on 3rd April 2015.
For more information, visit the movie’s website or Facebook page.
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