Furious 7 : The Bugle's Verdict

Fast and Furious 7. The name in itself evokes a flurry of expectations. It’s the end of a saga, one which inspired many to indulge in some really rash driving and ignore the “Stunts performed by professionals” warning. If expectation is something that propels you to see this movie, do yourself a favour and ditch this one. We don’t know about fast, but this surely left us feeling furious.

The film begins, showing Dom and Brian, settling into their dream life, believing all their troubles to be over. The latter, maybe not so much. He misses the action his old life has him used to. The Rock is pushing papers at the DSS, when Jason Statham enters the story, as Deckard Shaw, the “Big, Bad Brother” of Owen Shaw, the previous movie’s antagonist, out to seek revenge for little bro’s death. In Statham, we see a dangerous, trained assassin, who still believes he must stand by his brother’s side, even in death. In Statham, we see Dom’s dark reflection, a man whose code in life is family.

Sadly though, Jason Statham’s role is more like an extended guest appearance. This is a guy who has come out of years of hiding, just to kill these people, but funnily enough, it’s the other way round. The Toretto gang concocts a plan, with – hold on – Kurt Russell (that’s right), to use some uber-advanced surveillance technology and lead Shaw out into a trap, before he can get to them. This leads to Shaw having a maximum of 15 minutes screen-time, and it’s rather disappointing, because personally, Jason Statham was one of the reasons many were excited about this film, hoping for something along the lines of a “Transporter- Fast and Furious Showdown”.

The story is still likable, but not without its flaws. Even though it follows a format similar to that of Furious 6, it is able to keep the audience hooked on. It’s especially commendable, how in ending the series, the makers of the film connected it to its roots in “The Fast and the Furious”.

The stunts however, were a different story altogether. One thing we wish to point out is, Dom loves to fly. And he loves to do it in cars. Maybe he got tired of the plain old roads, and thought he should be exploring new horizons, because in the movie he flew off a cliff (into a ravine), out of a plane, into a helicopter, from one building to another, and from there to another building!! Basically, if it’s got seats and a steering wheel, Dom flies it. In the first or second instance, such a gimmick feels thrilling – it’s an action movie, for crying out loud. But after repeated flight lessons, things can get quite tedious.

For fellow Indian fans, Ali Fazal (Joy Lobo from 3 Idiots) also makes a guest appearance as a Mid-Eastern mechanic.

Verdict – For the late Paul Walker’s last ride, this movie didn’t do justice to his legacy, and if anything, it was ornamental, just like Dwayne Johnson, though in ending Walker received a proper emotional farewell.  The die-hard fanboy crowd  might still endure it, but for all others, it is advised that you tread with caution.