Film Review: Fast & Furious 7

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Fast & Furious 7. Rated M (action violence). 137 minutes. Directed by James Wan. Screenplay by Chris Morgan.

Verdict: Paul Walker’s final film is a fine tribute.

During a filming break for Thanksgiving in 2013, Fast & Furious 7 star Paul Walker and his friend Roger Rodas were killed in a car accident. The coroner reported that their 2005 Porsche Carrera GT was travelling at speeds of up to 160km per hour.

Even though Fast & Furious 7 was eventually completed using stand-ins (including Walker’s two brothers) for Walker’s popular character Brian O’Connor, it is the circumstances of the star’s untimely death that haunt this movie more than anything that Morgan’s screenplay might have dreamed up.

But dream big Morgan certainly has, and Malaysian-born Australian director Wan (Saw, TheConjuring), is more than equal to the task of bringing the explosive, fast-paced story to the big screen. What is impressive about Wan’s departure from the horror genre (in which he has worked exclusively until now), is how inventive some of the sequences are – particularly the sensational car chases that take place on every available surface of a mountain range and the gob-smacking sequences that star Abu Dhabi’s trio of monumental glass skyscrapers.

Picking up where Fast & Furious 6 left us, regulars Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris and Dwayne Johnson return in now reliably robust form to defeat villain Deckard Shaw’s (Jason Statham) quest to avenge the death of his brother Owen, while also trying to get his hands on state-of-the-art surveillance software.

At just short of two and a half hours long, Fast & Furious 7 comes perilously close to outstaying its welcome, but with its exceptional big action set pieces and its generous number of laughs, it undeniably rewards our attention. And by the time the filmmakers say goodbye to Walker at the end, it feels like a perfectly fitting tribute to the Fast & Furious films’ star who, tragically, died too young.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.

Film Review: Fast and Furious 6

Fast and Furious 6. Rated M (action violence and infrequent coarse language).130 minutes. Directed by Justin Lin. Screenplay by Chris Morgan.

Verdict: The Fast and Furious franchise reaches top gear.

When a film can’t even make up its mind about what it has to be called, you know the people responsible are at the very pinnacle of a certain kind of success. Fast 6, Furious 6 (as it appears on screen in the opening title credit), or Fast and Furious 6, this is the latest instalment in a ridiculously successful franchise that has defied the laws of cinema. Or re-written them completely. Whichever it is depends entirely on your own point of view.

Beginning with The Fast and the Furious (2000), this series of films about fast cars, gangs, covert undercover operations and an international array of locations usually reserved for movies about that certain secret agent 007, the (arguably) niche market to which these films speak has embraced them wholeheartedly. And it is not that difficult to understand why. While they might not be works of art, they are superbly produced action films about the true spirit of comeraderie, and this instalment will have you staring at the screen with a certain amount of jaw-dropping awe.

The Fast and Furious ‘family’ have split up around the globe to enjoy the spoils of their bank heist in Fast and Furious 5. But when Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) brings Toretto (Vin Diesel) photographic evidence that the love of his life Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) is still alive and working for an opposing gang, Toretto reunites the team to take the weapon-stealing gang on and bring Letty back to the fold.

It’s impossible to fault the acting on show here because there isn’t any. As any Fast and Furious Fan knows, it’s all about the car-related stunts, and Morgan’s screenplay – a brilliantly engineered piece of ‘let’s get the talk out of the way so we can get back to the car chases’ – is embraced by the cast, who share his aspirations without question.

The irony is that they’re absolutely right to do so. The big action set pieces are simply gob-smacking, and Lin (Fast 3) and his Australian-born cinematographer Stephen Windon (Fast 3, 5 and 6), nail them with breath-taking precision. The final sequence, which takes place on the longest airport runway known to mankind, is an instant classic, and the post-credits scene sets up Fast and Furious 7 with this series’ signature confidence. Just remember, as the film-makers wisely mention in a closing title screen, don’t try any of this at home.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.