What happens when our blockbusters become wholly self aware? The reality of the cinematic singularity has been alive and well for some time now with Marvel taking the bull by the horns with its Cinematic Universe of films and now the Fast & Furious franchise has fully consumed itself. The difference being, I guess, every installment in the Fast franchise has become The Avengers, it’s a superhero team-up rather than settling for lackluster individual episodes in-between. Like ’em or not, the Fast movies are just that, they’re movies, not installments or episodes. They can be hit and miss and, in the case of Furious 7, are now bumping up against becoming more “disaster porn” than ever before as Los Angeles is blown to bits and skyscrapers in Abu Dhabi (not to mention ancient artifacts) are vandalized by a $3.4 million sports car. But hey, you have to ratchet up the stakes somehow… right?
I guess after what is now seven movies in 15 years the opinion is there are only so many practical things you can do with a car in a movie and keep it exciting, though that isn’t to say Furious 7 is only unrealistic stunts featuring cars “jumping” from skyscraper to skyscraper. In fact, they actually threw cars out of an airplane in this movie and drove them down a mountain side. They even pull off a tandem, 360-degree spin that actually looks cooler in the behind-the-scenes featurettes than it does in the movie, because in the behind-the-scenes video they aren’t faking an unbelievable, slo-mo passenger hand-off in the middle of the move. Throw in a space-age militarized attack drone and you’re caught somewhere in a blockbuster paradox, a realm this movie is wholly aware of as Tyrese Gibson, back playing Roman Pearce, consistently reminds us.
What started out as a street-racing franchise has become a superhero movie where Ludacris now has martial arts skills and Paul Walker can go toe-to-toe with Tony Jaa (Ong Bak). Jason Statham joins the plotline as Deckard Shaw, the brother of Fast Six villain Owen Shaw (Luke Evans), setting out to avenge his brother, and there’s an out-of-left-field storyline involving a surveillance program designed by a kidnapped hacker played by Nathalie Emmanuel. Add Kurt Russell as a secret American operative to the mix and you have the latest in the globe-trotting franchise.
The cast, in fact, I love, but the biggest mistake this film makes is the early benching of Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) after an early dust-up with Deckard Shaw sends him to the hospital. Hobbs does eventually find his way back into the film (toting a Gating gun by the way), but not until late in the game and just like Baby, nobody should put The Rock in the corner. I was also a bit upset Tony Jaa didn’t get a little more to do, but hopefully Hollywood will find a way to bring him deeper into the fold in the future as he has a whole lot more to offer than is seen here.
Then we come to Paul Walker. I have no idea what scenes were and were not completed before his tragic death halted production just over midway through, but it’s something you’re constantly aware of. Hell, there’s a funeral scene in which the phrase “no more funerals” is uttered and Walker’s Brian O’Connor says, “Just one more.” His spirit looms over the film, not as a black cloud, but more as a mournful celebration that keeps his spirit alive, ending in a somber coda once the mayhem has ended. In fact, whether it was planned or not in the aftermath of his passing, Furious 7 almost plays as a feature length tribute to Walker and his character, or perhaps that’s just how I viewed it as someone that has watched these movies too many times over the past several years with 2 Fast 2 Furious quite possibly being my favorite. (By the way, what’s the deal with not bringing Eva Mendes back and isn’t Carter Verone (Cole Hauser) out of jail yet?)
Kudos to director James Wan whose made a name for himself in the horror genre beginning with the Saw films and most recently the Insidious franchise and The Conjuring. Wan shows he can handle something of this size and while Furious 7 does feel like it runs 15-20 minutes longer than it actually does (as have all of these films as of late), the film’s climax, which features no fewer than three set pieces taking place at once, plays quite well, bouncing from one moment to the next, keeping things moving at a quick clip.
However, the film is at its best when it’s more focused on one action piece at a time and at its worst when trying to cram in some truly terrible dialogue, mostly about family. I don’t know when this franchise felt it became more than blockbuster schlock, but they really need to tone down the self-seriousness. The bits between Vin Diesel and Michelle Rodriguez are almost cringe-worthy in not only how poorly the scenes are written, but how unnecessary they are.
Furious 7 keeps the insanity of the franchise alive and has fully embraced that insanity to the point it almost stops to make sure we’re aware of it. I could do with a little less self-awareness in the future, but this is a series I tend to cut a little more slack than I do others. What can I say? I like the characters and I appreciate the fact each movie is presented as a singular movie with a beginning, middle and end. While there may be more to the story to be told in future films, you walk away feeling as if an effort was made to give the audience its money’s worth in both story and spectacle, the latter obviously being the top priority nowadays, but only because they earned it along the way.
