I’m that guy who’s never gotten on board the Fast train. It is as though they are tailor made for me as a self described action junkie, and yet my enjoyment of the films has always been spotty at best; my buy-in never wholly secured. Despite my appreciation of the complicated and often practical stunt work and well-orchestrated action set pieces, the sheer cheesiness has always kept me at arms length. Yes, there are other, cheesier films that I’ve had no trouble loving… so what has been my Furious beef?
I think, in the end, I was never totally convinced that the filmmakers were in on the joke. Yes, each installment kept upping the scale and the stakes, but I always envisioned studio execs trying to tap into what the kids thought was “cool” that week. I could never simply let the ride sweep me away because I couldn’t be certain that the sheer absurdity of it all wasn’t simply lost on the filmmaking team. Was it possible the producers and writers and directors were just lucky enough to have hit a sweet spot that ensured that 12 year old boys and girls around the world and across all socioeconomic backgrounds could enjoy non-ironically, and seasoned film geeks could buy into fully-ironically, all without a real master plan in place? I certainly felt that was possible, and this always kept me from being all in.
But tonight I saw Furious 7.
And you know what? I saw it in a packed crowd at the SXSW film festival after a last minute secret announcement hinted to us that we’d be the very first public audience in the world to see the film. The energy of the whole event was electric, and I can’t imagine a more exciting way to have experienced the film. There’s no question that I suffer from “festival hype”. But there’s also no question that I had an absolute blast, top to bottom. Interestingly, with this entry, the filmmakers also made an airtight case that they are most certainly “in on the joke”. When the first shot of The Rock’s Hobbs involves him toweling off his much-discussed eternal sweat from the last installment, you just know that they know. But longtime franchise producer Neil Moritz and writer Chris Morgan also make it clear that they are so fully aware of these characters and this universe that they can bring the earnestness and melodrama in equal measure to the biggest action on the planet.
Everything is an action scene.
Vin Diesel gives a sideways glance that might as well have been a set piece. The phone conversations need choreographers. The Rock’s physique alone provides more thrills than a bakers dozen of the latest Steven Seagal films. And sometimes, when either Vin Diesel or Jason Statham are punched, you hear metal clanking sounds. There’s even a thrilling and hilarious minivan sequence. How do you build up an action scene around a minivan?
I’m kind of kidding, but I’m kind of not. New-to-the-franchise director James Wan picks right up where Justin Lin left off and ensures that there is rarely a dull moment. Everything is heightened. Pull-ins and close ups abound. Clever and stylish camera work adds flair without obscuring the action. Enormous set pieces that somehow manage to top what has come before are shot and orchestrated in such a way that we always know what is happening, where it is happening, and why it is happening… we just can’t believe that it IS happening. Cars fly in Furious 7. Repeatedly. Human bodies experience a level of invulnerability the Marvel universe should envy. But yet somehow the humanity of these injury-proof characters shines through enough to keep us on the edge of our seats when they are in peril.
Packing the cast out with new characters played by Jason Statham, Kurt Russell, Tony Jaa, and Ronda Rousey offered a new vibe to beef up the dynamic already established with the central “family” of characters in Vin Diesel’s gang. The core team of Diesel and Paul Walker, Ludacris and Tyrese, and even Michelle Rodriguez’ Letty and Jordana Brewster’s Mia all have their roles to play here and they fall into a perfect rhythm.
Producer Neal Moritz, director Wan, and writer Chris Morgan were all on hand, along with Tyrese, to introduce the film to us tonight. Moritz offered some touching words about their commitment to honoring Paul Walker’s memory with the completion of this film. He rightly requested that anyone writing about the movie hold off any comment about the fate of the Brian O’Conner character. What is clear (and I think can be said with no fear of “spoilers”), is that throughout the film and through the words of the filmmakers it is clear that Walker truly was honored in the release of this film, and his real life death is handled with dignity and grace here in the finished film. I can’t imagine series fans or Walker fans taking any kind of issue with the way the film concludes, and applaud the entire team for putting in the time and care to restructure the film in such a way to lovingly say goodbye to Paul Walker.
With not even a hint of cynicism, Furious 7 offers some of the biggest action set pieces of all time, as well as some of the most earnest melodrama. Everyone is clearly having the time of their lives making these films, and cheesiness be damned, this installment sucked me all the way in. I’ll have to revisit the whole franchise at some point just to appreciate the positivity and oddball family values preached by the series, which will almost certainly allow me to get more fully on board with all that sweet, sweet, over the top stunt work and action filmmaking. James Wan has made a convert out of me, and I have to believe America and the world at large is going to embrace this entry wholeheartedly.
Meanwhile, don’t forget, friends: In a street fight, the street always wins.
And I’m Out.