Bin Fodder Move Review: Furious Seven

Courtesy of Universal

It would be my guess that the writers/producers/directors of the Fast and Furious series sat around in pre-production meetings saying something to the affect of: "People just want to watch fast cars, hot women and shit blowing up" and they're not wrong about that.  The F&F series has been wildly successful warranting a now seventh installment (putting it up there with the likes of the X-Men series).  

Unfortunately, this kind of thinking tends to lead to situations where the story and plot line of a movie is so convoluted that you're left wondering why they even felt the need to pretend to build it in.  But the fast cars, hot girls and shit blowing up distract most people from this fact.

This is not to say that the movies have not been enjoyable, even for someone like me who doesn't get a chub over cars.  I think they're neat and they definitely look cooler in these movies than I would ever expect them to be in real life.  But, in reality, it's the core cast and the ideals that this movie presents: family and loyalty, that grounds this movie in reality against all odds.

There is an added level of sentimentality with this installment as it was Paul Walker's last - he'd been with the franchise since its inception as a mainstay character.  If you didn't know, he died last year in a car accident.  Not giving anything away, but there's a really nice montage with a voice over from Vin Diesel to wrap up the movie; pulls on the heart strings.

Realizing that when watching a movie of this type you have to through you concepts of what could actually happen in reality versus fantasy right out the window; but there was one moment involving The Rock Dwayne Johnson where I said. "This is a bridge too far!".  The guy runs an ambulance off a bridge to destroy a flying vehicle which is trying to destroy one of the cars...like...seriously?

Courtesy of Universal

That being said the movie is very entertaining.  It has the requisite T&A show along the way and even some surprise guest stars.  The cars look cool, run fast and are very furious.  If you've like the other movies in this series I would definitely recommend viewing.  If you've never seen an F&F movie before this is not the place to start - there's a lot of story which hinges on your knowledge of things that have happened previously (including who characters are, why Letty can't remember anything, who Shaw was, who Mia is, who Han was, etc.).  

However, if you'd like to join the fun and watch the previous installments - this is the commonly held belief of the appropriate order at this point: The Fast and the Furious, Fast &Furious, Fast Five, Fast and Furious 6, The Fast & the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Furious 7.  The second movie: 2 Fast 2 Furious doesn't involve the main crew and can be ignored.

Happy Rides!

Tb