Cast:
Paul Walker as Brian O’Conner
Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto
Michelle Rodriguez as Letty Ortiz
Jason Statham as Deckard Shaw
Dwayne Johnson as Luke Hobbs
Tyrese Gibson as Roman Pearce
Ludacris as Tej Parker
Nathalie Emmanuel as Ramsey
Djimon Hounsou as Jakande
Tony Jaa as Louie Tran
Kurt Russell as Petty
Jordana Brewster as Mia Toretto
Elsa Pataky as Elena
Ronda Rousey as Kara
Lucas Black as Sean Boswell
John Brotherton as Sheppard
Brittney Alger as Jasmine
Directed by James Wan
Story:
After the events of Furious 6, Dom (Vin Diesel), Brian (Paul Walker) and their crew are trying to rebuild their lives in Los Angeles, until Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham), an ultra-violent mercenary seeking revenge for what the crew did to his younger brother, starts terrorizing them. To find Shaw, they agree to work with a government operative (Kurt Russell) who is looking for a surveillance system known as the “God’s Eye” and its programmer, Ramsey, who has been kidnapped.
Analysis:
After six movies we can generally figure out what to expect from a “Fast and Furious” movie, so it’s nice that new director James Wan offers us a few surprises, although it takes a little time before we get to them. First, the movie has to bring us up to speed after Sung Kang’s Han was murdered by Jason Statham’s Deckard Shaw in the end credits of the previous movie.
As we learn, that scene took place years after the events in the body of the movie since Paul Walker’s Brian and his wife Mia (Jordana Brewster) now have a three-year-old son, but their extended family, including Mia’s street racing brother Dominic Torreto (Vin Diesel), are still unable to have a happy ending as they’re being threatened by the deadly relative of their previous adversary.
The first 20 minutes of Furious 7 are dedicated to setting up this conflict and it tends to drag until Brian and Torreto are reunited with the rest of the crew and it picks up dramatically, as we’re reminded what the indelible comic pairing of Tyrese Gibson’s Roman and Ludacris’ Tej brings to the mix.
By now, they’ve created a fairly solid model for these movies that falls somewhere between %
