Furious 7 Review: Paul Walker’s Last Ride Is Explosive!!!

Furious 7 Review: We came, we saw, we cried and we LOVE Paul Walker’s Last Ride Is Explosive in Furious 7 which is hands down this summer ride or die action film of 2015!

RATING: A

Who knew that the 2003 Fast and Furious film was going to end up as Universal Studios longest running franchise in the history of the studio, but with a leading cast of on the rise talent like Paul Walker, Vin Diesel and Michelle Rodriguez it was a predestined hit.

The franchise (The Fast and the Furious (2001); Fast 2 Furious (2003); The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006); Fast & Furious (2009); Fast Five (2011); Fast & Furious 6 (2013); Furious 7 (2015)) has already grossed over $2,638,071,428 billion worldwide, but with the seventh installment and the unfortunate death of the it lead Paul Walker movie goers are heading out in droves to see Brian’s final journey with his crew of speed racing rebel heroes.

Like everyone else we purchased tickets a couple of days before the big opening Friday night and then made sure to get to the theater an hour early to find our seats to anxiously wait for the lights to dim and the screen to light. From the moment the house light went down we were locked on the film to watch our favorite family do it one more time for Paul.

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Like Vin said of Paul, he always talked about having another hit on their hands and this one is bigger and better than the rest. Well Paul Walker was right. Furious 7 is more than action-packed film that is packed with action sequences, explosive and mind-boggling stunts, it a farewell well to Paul Walker and his legacy he leaves behind with the Fast & Furious franchise. Like Vin says in the film “no matter where you are, you will always be my brother.”

We don’t want to give too much away, but Furious 7 is a rollercoaster ride of excitement. Once again it picks up from the last and ties in all of the films together bring back everyone who was ever in a Fast & Furious film. It’s a complete circle of completion that ties together like no other franchise, which we have to credit the writers for writing a superb script that not only makes you love the film and its character, but actually makes you feel like family.

The movie was so good we didn’t want it to end because we knew that was our goodbye to Walker who will forever be immortalized within the Fast & Furious franchise were her belongs. We get to see another side of Brian O’Conner being a father and husband to his wife Mia O’Conner (Jordan Brewster) Dominic Toretto’s little sister that was swept off her feet in the first film. If you remember the two met in the store where she worked while Brian was still a cop undercover trying to take down a gang of hoodlums. Who knew they’d become rebel heroes?

Here is what we will say about Furious 7 – it strings together the same type of over-the-top action sequences that made Fast Five and Fast & Furious 6 box office smashes. It’s filled with badass fist fights, extreme gun fire and explosions scenes that will blow your mind, and to top that, this is a movie that features not one, but two games of automotive chicken. Oh, and did we mention cars jumping between buildings and crashing into two different aircraft mid-flight? Unbelievable stunts that might make the new Mad Max Fury Road look like a cake walk.

Why Furious 7 makes the franchise a complete package is the simple fact that it goes back to the formula of the first and fourth films in the series, where the secondary characters take the seat in the way, way back. In the fifth and sixth films, they stand strong because of the ensemble cast. The franchise built a strong foundation that not only focused on Diesel and Walker’s characters, it focused on ancillary characters so you care about everyone, not just the leads.

In Furious 7 we see Tyrese Gibson’s Roman and Chris “Ludacris” Bridges’ Tej is when they’re supporting Walker and Diesel. Dwayne Johnson’s DSS agent, Hobbs, merely bookends the film. As for, Kurt Russel’s secret agent and Nathalie Emmanuel’s (Missandei from Game of Thrones), they are the motivators to move the films plotline to accomplish an end goal. Jason Statham is the menace with a vengeance causing destruction and death no matter where he goes, but all we could see was the Transporter character every time he was on-screen. Deckard Shaw’s (Statham) counterpart, played by Jakande (Djimon Hounsou), dubbed him “Villain Number 2” was basically a forgettable role for the actor.

As for winning an Oscar, maybe for action or special effects, but it’s going to have to go up against Jurassic World, and Avenges most likely, so at this point maybe a MTV Award.

Furious 7 is a damn good popcorn action flick; it fulfills the adrenaline-craving junkies NEEDS and is that kind that typifies the summer movie season. Overall Furious 7 is the summer movie that should last the whole season. It’s a feel good movie giving you everything you want from a movie. Action, drama, suspense, thrills, real stunts, and a movie that is about people NOT CGI dinosaurs or superheroes.

Saying goodbye to Paul Walker:

Wan and writer Chris Morgan do a good job of negotiating Walker’s exit from the franchise. It was done in traditional Furious 7 style. One last ride as Paul drives off on his own road, making you feel like he’ll be back for another installment. The final scene exists solely to pay tribute to the late actor, doing so in an extremely touching, bromantic way. It was very moving and we couldn’t hold back the tears saying goodbye to Paul. We knew the scene was NOT him and that it was one of his brother with a CGI face of walker it gives you that lump in your throat as our eyes teared up, so we sipped our drink to hold back from bursting out and crying. As we looked left and right of us, we notice the whole theater was fighting back the tears like us. Just watching Vin Diesel say goodbye in the end broke our heart, so we could only imagine how hard it was for him and Michelle, Tyrese and Ludacris from breaking down in tears during the beach scene saying he belongs with his family. How they shoot the last scenes after Paul’s death looked difficult for the cast as they were tearing up during the final scene of the film. You can tell how hard it was for each of them.

Will there be an 8th and 9th installment like it was planned now that Paul Walker is in another place?
Only time will tell, but we’re cautiously optimistic because it’s going to depend on Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese, Ludacris, Jordan Brewster and Dwayne Johnson if they will sign up for another round of action without Paul Walker.

We actually feel this might be the best way to end the franchise, but who knows? It’s Hollywood and the show must go on.

Written by Emilio Ricci