No one would have guessed that an article in Vibe’s May 1998 issue would become the catalyst for one of the largest movie franchises on the planet. “Racer X” served as the inspiration for The Fast and The Furious, Vin Diesel’s flagship series that’s gone through ups and downs over the decades, but along the way, one movie stands out as the pinnacle of insane car action and in retrospect, is where the series should have come to an end. Furious 7 (the actual name for Fast and Furious 7) features the best cast, the best stunts, and the best ending, which sets aside the plot to pay tribute to Paul Walker in a scene that caused entire theaters of people to sob uncontrollably.
Anticipation For Furious 7 Was Off The Charts
Fans were stoked for Furious 7 the moment Fast 6’s post-credit scene started up, and everyone realized that, finally, the Han (Sung Kang) time paradox was going to be resolved. During the third film, Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift, Han dies in a fiery crash, and Fast & Furious 6 revealed that Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) was behind the crash. Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, and Jason Statham in the same movie? How could it go wrong?
Amazingly, it didn’t. Furious 7 exceeded expectations even though the plot to stop the terrorist Jakande (Djimon Hounsou) from using the God’s Eye satellite sounds a lot like any of the plots from the sixth through ninth movies; it doesn’t matter when the action is this good. From the mountainous convoy attack to leaping between buildings in a car, it’s absurd and over the top, while not becoming as cartoonish as the magnet action of Fast & Furious 9. In no other franchise could The Rock destroying a drone with an ambulance be called grounded, but there’s nothing quite like The Fast and The Furious.
The Right Mix Of Car Stunts And Martial Arts
The action scenes that don’t involve cars might, for the only time in the franchise, be as good as watching muscle cars break the laws of physics. Thanks to the inclusion of MMA champion (and future WWE star) Rhonda Rousey, the real-life Muay Thai master Tony Jaa’s Hollywood debut, and Statham, the hand-to-hand combat is as kinetic as hitting the Nitrous.
Furious 7 also brought in Nathalie Emmanuel as Ramsey, the hacker, during the height of Game of Thrones, and Kurt Russell as Mr. Nobody. On top of the returning core group from the last two movies, it’s a ton of characters to keep track of, but like the rest of the film, the ensemble approach works.
Horror director James Wan took the reins for Furious 7 after Justin Lin revived the franchise. Wan, co-creator of Saw and Insidious, brought his “practical first” approach to the film by using as little CGI as possible and instead relying on destroying actual cars during the dozens of location shoots. 240 were destroyed during the convey chase scene alone. Most of the film’s CGI was instead utilized for a very good reason.
The Death Of Paul Walker
While working on Furious 7, Paul Walker died in a car crash on his way home from a charity event. His unfinished scenes were completed by his brothers, Cody and Caleb, with Paul’s face superimposed upon them. If you’re looking for it, you can tell the moments, especially the fight against Tony Jaa’s terrorist, but it’s still less intrusive and off-putting than Disney de-aging Harrison Ford for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.
The best decision made during filming was to have Walker’s character, Brian, retire and live a life of peace with his wife and kid. Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth’s “See You Again” plays over Diesel driving down a road, joined by archival footage of Paul Walker, as their two cars ride together, and then take separate paths, in the simplest, most elegant send-off any star can hope for from the franchise they helped build. The opening scene of Up and the ending of Toy Story 3 may have made headlines for their emotional punch, but as a send-off to a real-life star, only Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’s funeral can come close to the emotions of Furious 7’s final moments.
A Record-Setting Release
Furious 7 was not only a hit from the moment it was released, but it also became one of the highest-grossing films in history, passing the $1 billion mark in only 17 days. As further evidence that this should have been the end of the series, it remains the best-rated film of the franchise on all major review sites, including Metacritic, Rotten Tomatoes, and CinemaScore. The efforts of Jason Mamoa and John Cena, along with the spin-off, Hobbs & Shaw, haven’t been able to bring the series back to the heights it achieved with Furious 7. Most franchises don’t even get to a seventh movie, never mind that movie becoming the best of all of them, but again, The Fast and The Furious isn’t like any other series out there.
If you need to take a moment and forget the disappointment that was Fast X, fire up Furious 7, available for rent on Amazon Prime, Google Play, AppleTV, and YouTube.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com ’
