Monday 4 May 2015

Movie review of Furious 7

Furious 7 - 5.5/10
Directed by James Wan
Written by Chris Morgan, Gary Scott Thompson
Cast - Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham

Plot Summary
Dominic Torretto and his crew thought they left the criminal mercenary life behind. They defeated an international terrorist named Owen Shaw and went their separate ways. But now, Shaw's brother, Deckard Shaw is out killing the crew one by one for revenge. Worse, a Somalian terrorist called Jakarde, and a shady government official called "Mr. Nobody" are both competing to steal a computer terrorism program called God's Eye, that can turn any technological device into a weapon. Torretto must reconvene with his team to stop Shaw and retrieve the God's Eye program while caught in a power struggle between terrorist and the United States government.

Review
I liked watching the Fast and Furious series. Its just fun filled with testosterone and loads of fast expensive cars to which I have no idea or interest. Its pretty much, "don't think too much about anything, just enjoy the action" kinda movies. Furious 7 is a lot different from the first few movies as it focuses heavily on action instead of the cars. Its still entertaining but I guess car enthusiasts wont be overly excited about it.
This sadly is the last movie, Paul Walker is in as he tragically died in an car accident. As production was not completed, some of Paul Walker's scenes were either done in CGI or acted out by his other brothers. It was hard to tell if it was CGI or the brothers but the very last scene, it was very obvious but that scene had to be done. What I liked about the plot is the director didn't want Walker's character to die or get killed instead of him just leaving the game and being happy with his family. That is a fitting tribute indeed.
Action sequences are over the top and sometimes a little too exaggerated. I did not like the camera works. Some of the cuts are too rushed and that whole falling down together with the actor is done way too many times. I remember that shot because it was done in James Wan's previous movie, The Conjuring. This is also the first time James Wan is directing an action movie(he has been doing horror mostly). I didn't really like his style of direction, I felt that the previous director Justin Lin would have made a better director as he is more familiar with the Fast and Furious franchise. Script was downright horrible. I am a fan of corny lines and what not. But if the scriptwriters were going for that whole 80s cool one liners thing, they failed. Script was absolute shit. Acting was not that great. Michelle Rodriguez was still going on about her amnesiac stuff and that was a little whiny but she had a really well choreographed fight scene with UFC's female MMA champion, Rhonda Rousey. That was fun to watch. The fight scene between the Rock and Jason Statham was better than the fight between Vin Diesel and Statham. The later fight was quite ridiculous. I'm pretty sure they will carry on with an 8th Fast and Furious movie as the ending was quite open.

I kinda enjoyed watching Furious 7. It may now be the highest grossing movie of the Fast and Furious franchise but I still prefer the later solely because of direction. I just hope the 8th one, Justin Lin will be back in the director's seat for it. Worth watching on a weekend if you are a fan.

Quotes
[last lines]
Dominic Toretto: [remembering the time he had with Brian] I used to say I live my life a quarter mile at a time and I think that's why we were brothers - because you did too. No matter where you are, whether it's a quarter mile away or half way across the world. The most important thing in life will always be the people in this room, right here, right now. Salute mi familia. You'll always be with me. And you'll always be my brother.

Recommended movies done by the director
The Conjuring
Saw