Saturday, April 17, 2021

Movie review - "Furious 7" (2015) ***1/2

 The one where Paul Walker died.

Big, loud, fun cartoon which goes there - cars jump out of planes and jump from skyscraper to skyscraper. It's like a movie brainstormed by 12 year old boys with some butts thrown in to appeal to 14 year old elder brothers. Those things are harder to do than they look though - in particular there are so many characters to service.

Paul Walker kind of gets overlooked... that may have been because of his death but Vin Diesel pulls focus, as do Michelle Rodriguez (amnesiac drama), Tyrese Gibson (comic relief I), and Ludicrous (comic relief II).

There's pleasing acknowledgement of the series continuity with appearances by Lucas Black (the forgotten lead of the third film, who gets one scene), Jordana Brewster.

People like Rhonda Rousey and Djimon Hounsou pop up and Kurt Russell has a decent sized role. And there's Nathalie Emmanuele and Elsa Pataky... oh and Dwayne Johnson has a small part and Jason Statham is a villain. Oh and there's an Iggy Azalea cmaeo.

 Something for everyone, really.

Sometimes the action is too cartoony to be effective... a scene with Paul Walker on a bus hanging off a cliff felt better because it seemed vaguely real.

The death of Paul Walter is very well handled at the end.

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