Released on April 3, 2015, director James Wan brilliantly put together the intensely invigorating “Fast and Furious 7” with amazing assistance from producer Neal H. Moritz. Maybe it was Wan’s familiarity with horror films that allowed him to ingeniously build up anxiety within the audience. The movie consisted of chaotic heroism with airborne automobiles, crafty conflict, heroic hope, and a craving to seek justice and revenge with intense inclemency.
To sum up the movie: antagonist, Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) seeks vengeance on the Toretto gang for the hospitalization of his younger brother, Ian Shaw. In his malicious pursuit of the group and their ultimate demise, there is an abundance of action-filled battle scenes and extravagant stunts, remarkably performed with eclectic effects. The characters’ attitudes and the swiftness of their assertive actions is meant to resemble the “ride-or-die” mentality of defiant, hardcore, street racers. Although the prequel, Fast and Furious 6, focuses on the actual racing aspect, this film focuses on the street mentality. This film is consists of 140 minutes of dramatic action, occasionally tainted with light-hearted humor and sugar coated with moments of cliché dialogue and scrupulous sentiment.
Despite the thrilling aspect, there is a nostalgic notion of professionally expressed authentic chemistry resembled in the appearance of each actor that contributes to the impending appeal to emotion induced by the film. Torreto is repeatedly emphasizes the essence of ‘familia’ and the innate loyalty owed to each individual member of the gang, displaying subtle signs of affection and acceptance. Unfortunately, the attempts made to supply subtle hints of sentiment slightly swayed the quality of the film because it included corny dialogue and very cliché moments. Sometimes, I was able to guess what would happen next. Essentially, this degrades the quality of a thriller because it is lacking consistency with unpredictable events. Thankfully, the banal emotional appeal is compensated for with supreme acting by the entire cast. The film finally concludes with a heartwarming tribute to Walker, who tragically passed away during the film’s production. Amazingly enough, the topic of an eighth installment in the franchise has been mentioned by Diesel. Who knows what is in store for the follow-up to this flabbergasting film, and if it will have the potential to top it?
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Metacritic Rating: 3.5 out of 5