I loved Furious 7 from start to finish. I wasn’t sure at all how it would turn out, or how I would feel about it given Paul Walker’s death, especially since he died in a car crash. But it turned out to be a very sweet tribute to him that felt genuine rather than exploitative.
So we should get this out of the way early: this movie has no real plot. If you described the plot to me next week I would probably struggle to tell you which number was attached to the title (I’m honestly not sure whether I have seen #5, #6, or both). But if you like action or cars or explosions or all of the above, the lack of plot won’t matter one bit. Really, a plot or character development would just slow the movie down, so it works out for the best!
I am being slightly faceteous. There is a thread that ties the movie together from start to finish, and it is the theme of family that the trailers have been good enough to hammer into my head. It really works though as it sets up the ending perfectly. For that reason I would be interested to see what the movie was originally intended to be, because I was truly surprised how seamless the movie is. I was expecting something disjointed as a result of them trying to write out the Brian O’Conner character at the last minute and instead I got a cohesive, thoroughly enjoyable movie with a great ending. I cannot say enough how satisfying it is to get an ending that is true to the characters in the face of the real-world death of one of the stars. It was perfect.
There will inevitably be more of these (#8 at least must be a sure thing) and I kind of wish they would stop. I am sure I will enjoy the next one but these movies were best when they had both Vin Diesel and Paul Walker. Those two were the heart of the franchise and since we will never see that again, I suspect the instalments to come will feel a little bit empty. But I can’t blame anyone for keeping the franchise going, and looking back it is a complete mystery how it has survived for seven movies (#2 and #3 were the weak links, and the series probably should have died there). Not coincidentally, those weak ones are the only two that Paul and Vin do not both appear in. So that does not bode well, but if this indeed the end of the franchise as we know it, it is a glorious finish.
Ten “quarter miles at a time” out of ten.
ASSHOLES WATCHING MOVIES 
OK thank you for this. I like Vin Diesel but I’d never watched any films of this franchise (I used to only be into fast cars when I could drive them!). I guess now it all takes on a different gravitas, and I might watch the few good ones following your instructions. Cheers!
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I think if you like Vin Diesel then you should enjoy these movies, because I am not sure that he really does much acting in them!
And I do not mean to say that any of them are bad. I have enjoyed them all (and also they are all pretty much the same movie). I just think the reason there are seven of these (and counting) is because Vin Diesel and Paul Walker are so good together as brothers from different mothers who take it a quarter mile at a time.
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I’ll give them a go (Vin Diesel really never does much acting, he’s just… likeable) My little sin considering I normally am far more demanding of actors :). Thank you!
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Did anyone else feel that Tyrese Gibsn was doing a bit of a Dave Chappelle impersonation?
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I felt he was doing something and the Dave Chappelle comparison is a good one.
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At first I was like dude, Jason Statham just brought a gun to a sledge hammer fight. But then I was like, Vin Diesel brought a sawn-off shotgun to a jagged piece of metal fight. But then he exchanged the shotgun for a long wrench and I was like, cool.
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The climactic fight between those two was a very good one. I especially liked that the wrench was just waiting on the front seat.
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The Rock refers to himself (in real life) as “franchise viagra” and in the movie as “the cavalry” and he WAS. He didn’t even have much screen time and his character was totally out of the loop for most of it, didn’t know the plans at all, but somehow kept managing to save the day.
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The Rock fighting Jason Statham was my favourite part. “The thing about a street fight is: The street always wins” is my favourite line. Tony Jaa was completely wasted. I enjoyed this more than I thought I would (I’ve only seen the first) but found it was edited in such a way that it was tough to keep track of the fights and car chases. I want to watch the movie again as a drinking game because I think it hits every action movie cliche I can think of.
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Tony Jaa was barely in it and I agree he didn’t get a chance to do anything awesome. Which is too bad but I’m not sure where it would have fit in. They probably should have saved him to be the bad guy in the next movie rather than trying to cram him in along with all the other people who were already involved.
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Good point. I think that’s what they’re doing with Kurt Russell.
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I think it’s in The Rock’s contract that he only speaks in catch phrases. Meanwhile, I noticed that the average sentence length for Vin Diesel was under 4 words. If we were playing a drinking game, we wouldn’t last 20 minutes.
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Th sounds really good. Confession; I’ve never watched a single one of these films. I notice that from 5-onwards, they are fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. Am I missing a huge amount by skipping 1-4 and starting with 5?
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I’d probably start at #4 if you don’t start at #1. Fast and Furious is not super well reviewed but it’s a decent movie and if I remember right it leads directly into the next ones (though again I can’t remember which thing happens in which movie so it’s hard to tell). But #4-6 especially share a ton of characters. Then again, they also share a lot of characters with #1-3!
It’s an interesting franchise that way – no one ever really leaves, unless they’re dead, only even then a few have still found a way to come back.
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Thank you for such a great response. I think I might begin with #4. Tokyo Drift sounds like a bit of a chore, from the few reviews that I have read. Thank you for the insight and keep up the great work on your blog.
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