Review  

Poignant and thrillingly outrageous

by Sureshni Pilapitiya

‘Fast and Furious 7’ the poignant sequel to the Paul Walker action thriller, which was both a dedication and tribute to the star whose life was tragically cut short in 2013, had its worldwide release on April 2. In Sri Lanka, the release was marked with a special screening at the Majestic Cineplex’s Platinum Cinema. The significance of ‘Fast and Furious 7’ is in the tragic reality of Paul Walker's final appearance. He was half way through filming when, in what could be described as a classic case of life imitating art, he was killed in a high speed fiery car crash.

The filming had to be put on hold for script rewrites and Walker’s brothers, Caleb and Cody were used as stand-ins to complete the filming. Written by Chris Morgan and directed by Chris Wan, the action thriller is slated to be one of the biggest blockbuster hits of the year. Apart from Walker, the movie’s high octane cast includes Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris and Jason Statham, with Kurt Russell making an enigmatic appearance as the ‘Mr. Nobody’.

Walker plays Brian, a vehicular warrior who is married to Mia (Jordana Brewster), the sister of his partner-in-arms, Dom (Vin Diesel). The partners are mobilized again - together with the martial artiste Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), who is Dom’s wife; the class clown Roman (Tyrese Gibson); and the tech wiz Tej (Ludacris - to combat a double-barrelled assault.

The evil Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) is trying to kill them, and his partner-in-terror, Jakande (Djimon Hounsou), has kidnapped the hacker Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel), whose ‘God’s-eye’ gizmo can track them across the globe. The federal government - represented by the helmet-coiffed Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell) - kicks in some equipment, and the chase begins, taking the heroes from Los Angeles to the Caucasus Mountains and Abu Dhabi and back.

Along the way, they achieve the impossible with vertiginous style, blending Nascar manoeuvres with demolition-derby impact, special-forces exploits with acrobatic aplomb.

Director, James Wan, sends cars repeatedly airborne and seems himself to marvel at the results; the movie’s real subject is the stunt work, but its stars’ authentic chemistry lends melody to its relentless beat. The wreckage of cities is just a backdrop for the thrill of hard-won victory and the familial bonding that results.

According to the movie spiel, the story had to undergo certain changes to remove the tragic awkwardness of Walker's death and make it part of the story. This is reflected in many of the key conversations between the characters, as is the fact that Walker hadn't shot any action scenes before his death. The latter leads to some creative staging of certain sequences, with a degree of awkwardness that could not be avoided during the non-action beats that segues into thematic connection influenced by Walker's real-life death.

But despite all these seemingly minor drawbacks the cast have done justice to the movie. From the technical side, some remarkable CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) has been done by Weta Digital. Poignant is the emotional goodbye to Brian O’Connor (Paul Walker) which is likely to leave long time ‘Fast and Furious’ fans teary at the end. Vin Diesel's performance is stunning as usual, and Dwayne (Rock) Johnson's role as the hard boiled and no-nonsense cop adds colour and action to the thriller.

The 3D imagery of cars flying over the cliffs and falling down from skyscrapers and music with elements of Rock and Hip hop, all adds to keep audience at the edge of the seat and excited. Perhaps the most captivating item was the gorgeous ‘Bugatti’ car, dubbed the ‘beast ‘ hidden in a building in distant Abu Dhabi, only to be destroyed due to a technical error.

Fast and Furious 7 delivers exactly the right kind of thrilling outrageousness you’ve come to expect from this high-octane franchise, but this time there’s an added dramatic resonance as the film poignantly pays tribute to the late Paul Walker.