Rated PG-13 For Prolonged Frenetic Sequences Of Violence, Action And Mayhem, Suggestive Content And Brief Strong Language.
2hrs 17min/137min.
1 F-bomb.
4/4 Stars
"How can we not talk about family, when family's all that we got?
Everything I went through, you were standin' there by my side,
And now you gon' be with me for the last ride..."
Race In Paradise.
Not a lot of people really know the full story of the treacherous road this film traveled on it's way to getting released. Let me take you back to Memorial Day weekend of 2013, when "Fast & Furious 6" was released theatrically. Days before it came out, "Furious 7" was announced for release on July 11th, 2014. However, this was halted when main cast member, Paul Walker, was killed in a single car accident while on Thanksgiving break from filming. Crushed and devastated, the film was understandably, halted for a solid week. After this, the film resumed production in early 2014 with a new release date of April 3rd, 2015. The film was successfully completed using CGI and his brothers as stunt doubles, however, viewers unknown to that part of the story would think that he survived to see one last ride.
So, the film has now come out and the ultimate question is whether are not it can stand up to the MASS amount of hype. Well it works as three different films: A traditional(read: great) entry into the series and, maybe, series capper, A huge action film and a truly sentimental swan song for an actor taken far too young. Now, let me stop right here for a moment and explain to you why this means a lot to me. Let's go back to 2008. This is the year where, as a little 10 year-old snot, I had a portable DVD Player. On this device, my mom let me watch her copy of "The Fast And The Furious". I thought it was one of the greatest movies on the planet and ever since then, I've held these movies near and dear to my heart, so when the news came that he passed, it was heavy. Now back to the present. People are still mourning the loss and it's understandable. Just like Robin Williams(which also, was a huge blow to the heart), people lost someone they watched over and over. As a fan, the movie does more than justice.
Having been pardoned by Agent Luke Hobbs(Dwayne Johnson) after helping him find criminal mastermind Owen Shaw(Luke Evans), Dominic Toretto(Vin Diesel), Brian O'Conner(Paul Walker) and the rest of the crew are now being hunted by Shaw's bloodthirsty brother Deckard(Jason Statham). Following the death of Han(Sung Kang) and fearing the saftey for him and his family, Dom decides to recruit his crew for "one last ride". On top of this, they're also after a device called "God's Eye", a powerful surveillance program that could prove dangerous in the incorrect hands. Called upon by Frank Petty(Kurt Russell) to retrieve the device and the hacker(Nathalie Emmanuel) who can use it, He promises Deckard in return. Facing immediate danger, the crew step on it before Shaw can make another move and claim another one of theirs.
As far as the action goes, it's almost whiplash inducing. The film has 3 big action scenes: The bus invasion scene to grab the hacker(in the trailers, this is the scene with the parachuting cars), a scene set at a party in Abu Dhabi(The scene with the car going through the buildings) and the big climactic action scene which takes up a good thirty minutes at most, but it's oh so fun seeing The Rock take down a helicopter with a minigun. The action scenes have to at least account for a good 60 minutes of the movie, which isn't a bad thing. Please raise your hand if you go to these films for the dialogue. No one? I thought so.
The performances aren't spectacular, but they are more than serviceable here. Vin Diesel(2014's "Guardians Of The Galaxy") is a touching badass here as he keeps busting open heads with his deep baritone voice. Michelle Rodriguez(2013's "Machete Kills") displays a surprising depth to her character of Letty that hasn't been glimpsed before. Jordana Brewster(2014's "American Heist") isn't in the film as much as any of the others, but for her 20 minutes, she gives Mia one last go around(this is her last time for the series) with caring sweetness. Dwayne Johnson(2014's "Hercules") isn't in the film a whole lot either, but when he does pop up, oh boy, is he a delight. The interactions he has with other members make it hard to believe that these were the same people he was going after in "Fast Five". Tyrese Gibson(2011's "Transformers: Dark Of The Moon") and Chris "Ludacris(LUDA!)" Bridges(2011's "New Year's Eve") are fun to take in as Roman and Tej, who provide comic relief throughout the film. 
As far as newcomers go, Nathalie Emmanuel(in her American debut) is surprising really good as computer hacker Megan. She doesn't get a whole lot of time in the spotlight, but when she does, it's hard not to pay attention(and no, not for those reasons, and men, you know what I'm talking about). As Frank Petty, Kurt Russell(2007's "Grindhouse") is one of the more professional actors among them(no insult intended), and as such, he is really good. Jason Statham(2015's "Wild Card") is beautifully menacing as villain Deckard Shaw. Lucas Black(TV''s "NCIS: New Orleans") returns for one scene as Sean Boswell from "Tokyo Drift" is is wonderful for his 2 minutes onscreen. Finally, we come to Iggy Azalea, in a minor and I mean very minor cameo appearance. She has ONE line in the film and she somehow manages to give such a pissy delivery, it takes you out quickly, for a few seconds. You are Australian, not a goddamn "gangsta". This brings me, briefly to her "music" career(if one can call it that). Her music is also really poor and should fade into obscurity.
Finally, we come to the late, great Paul Walker, who is kind of the main focus of the film. In his final film role and his final portrayal of Brian O'Conner, Walker manages to emanate a severe amount of sweetness in his opening scenes(seeing as how his character now has a child to care for) but is also his usual badass self. Seeing him in this film so long after his death is surreal. The last five minutes act as a beautiful swan song/tribute to him and as such, had me crying pretty damn hard(I won't lie). To Walker, we see you in a better place and hope your smiling down at your family.
The soundtrack features 7(GET IT?!) new singles made for the film that play throughout, including "Ride Out" by Kid Ink, Tyga, Wale, YG and Rich Homie Quan(all real people, I assure you), "How Bad Do You Want It(Oh Yeah)" by Sevyn Streeter, "Offset" by T.I. and Young Thug, "My Angel" by Prince Royce(who also has a small cameo), "Go Hard Or Go Home" by Wiz Kahlifa and Iggy Azalea(surprisingly not horrible here), "Payback" by Juicy J(gross, I know), Kevin Gates, Future and SAGE The Gemini and finally "See You Again" by Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth. All of these range from great to decent but let's focus on "See You Again" for a moment...
"See You Again" plays over the last five minutes of the film as the tribute plays. The song now has a music video to go along with it, incorporating part of the tribute in it. I can safely say that this might be the best song of the year. I usually don't make lists until the end of the year but no song in the past few years has made me well up with tears like this one. As the film closes out, a white screen with two simple words closes the film. Those two words: "For Paul". As Vin's voice over takes control and clips from previous installments play, we feel like we have finally said goodbye to a man taken far too young. As the closing words play out, we feel exactly how Vin feels. As far as a next installment goes, I really hope that Universal has this be the last one. I wish they would choose respect over money, but who knows? They said no to "Kick-Ass 3" so this is a studio that I'm not too happy with right now.
"I used to say I live my life a quarter of a mile at a time,
and I think that's why we were brothers, because you did too.
No matter where you are in this world, whether it's a quarter mile away
or halfway around the world, you'll always be with me
and you'll always be my brother."
No comments:
Post a Comment