With Furious 7, the superhero season has begun — and these guys (and girls) are so poised in their invincibility that they don't even bother to put on spandex costumes.
The juvenile implausibility of the stunts has always been the strength of the franchise; this time, we see skydiving cars, cars flying between skyscrapers, cars deliberately colliding head-on, and cars suicidally crashing down a rocky cliff, leaving Vin Diesel with more racing wisdom and not a single scratch.
- Furious 7: Starring Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, Kurt Russell, Dwayne Johnson. Directed by James Wan
Even The Hulk has a bad day, but nevermind: The seventh film in the fossil-fuel-burning series is one of its most infectious and thrilling (though Fast Five is still the best), with almost breathless action sequences taking place on cliff-hugging Azerbaijan highways, Abu Dhabi penthouses, and the series' home turf of LA.
After all the mayhem, the film pays tribute to the late Paul Walker in a serene, heartfelt way that will tear up many macho racers in the audience.
From left, Furious 7 cast members Tyrese Gibson, Vin Diesel and Michelle Rodriguez. Photo: AFP
That we've seen the actors and their characters in seven films in the past 14 years gives the franchise a sense of urban lore, regardless of how cartoonish some of their behaviour and posturing are. Vin Diesel's character, Dom, keeps intoning about how his gang is not a gang, but a "family" — Walker as Brian O'Connor, Michelle Rodriguez as Letty, Ludacris as Tej, Tyrese Gibson as Roman, Jordana Brewster as Mia — and the longevity of the series has given credit to the tight-knit ensemble. Walker's death in 2013 put a mournful dimension to the family angle, and watching him so alive on the screen for the last time is at once sad, exhilarating and surreal (after his death, his character was played by his two brothers, with the help of computer-generated tweaks). Save for the Walker homage, F7 upholds the Fast & Furious tradition of maximalism and pumped-up destruction. This latest film was directed by James Wan (famed for his horror films Saw and The Conjuring), who deftly strings together a near non-stop, crash-and-burn automobile apocalypse in exotic locales and even more exotic stunt work.
Joining Diesel, Walker and co are Dwayne Johnson as the crazy cop Hobbs and Jason Statham as the new (and possibly returning) arch-nemesis Deckard Shaw, a black-ops assassin hell-bent on killing Dom and his friends.
Our own Tony Jaa (let's not repeat the drama involving the court injunction that almost stopped the film's release) plays Kiet, an angry henchman who has two, quite lengthy hand-to-hand combat scenes with Walker — and who speaks about three words. Oh, we also have Kurt Russell, all creased and shaded, as chief of an undercover agency that assists Dom and his gang in a subplot involving a theft of the super-device called God's Eye.
As in the past few films, F7 is like an Ocean's Eleven that ditches suaveness for raw energy. It's also like Mission Impossible sans spy-craft smugness — only streetwise camaraderie and outrageous auto stunts. Can you top the one in which a sports car crashes through the window of a skyscraper and lands on a high floor of the next building while still running? Or parachuting cars from 3,000m, only to see them land in an orderly formation on a small mountain road? Preposterous — each sequel seems more preposterous than the one before — but I think F7 flaunts such crazy daredevilry with irrepressible delight that you've learned to forgive it after seven films. The skilful direction and editing — take the chase on the Azerbaijan high roads — is proof that these guys know what they're doing.
Then again, a franchise has to grow with its audience. The early FF films were cocky, youthful and rebellious, portraying street-racing as a form of subversion. (Which is why young riders in Southeast Asia worship Dom and Brian.)
In the latest film, we still have a scene in a racing outpost populated by tattooed guys and women in thongs, and the action is still flashy and brash. But Dom's team is basically working with the government now (albeit its underground arm). Their gadgets, cars and guns are more polished, and their mission doesn't have the intense, personal drive that fuelled Dom's and Brian's gang years.
That's probably why the part about Brian, Walker's character, trying to have a normal suburban life with his wife and kid is sad and inevitable. Everyone outgrows their characters (though not necessarily outlives them). F7 is a mad rush of fun, the last thrill ride for Walker.
The rest of the team will certainly come back for more. But for how much longer?
