Review | Furious 7

Darnell Gilton, Guest Columnist

Furious Seven is an excellent, extremely emotional movie especially for those who have been following the saga since the premiere of the first movie of the franchise entitled The Fast and Furious which premiered back in 2001. Fans around the world were absolutely heartbroken when they heard of the tragic death of one of the franchise’s main actors, Paul Walker who was killed in an automobile accident back in November of 2013 at only 40 years old.

The tragic death of American actor Paul Walker left fans, co-stars, producers, and many more wondering how the franchise was going to be completed, or even if their were still intentions to finish the film. Well, here we are in 2015. It’s here! The last film that Paul Walker ever filmed premiered on April 7th, 2015.

Furious 7: action-packed, intense, emotional, family themed, and best and most of all – it’s FURIOUS. After the crew, Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), Brian O’Connor (Paul Walker), Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson), Ludacris (Tej), and other cast members kill and defeat international terrorist Owen Shaw in the prequel Fast & Furious 6. Shaw’s brother, Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) is out to avenge his brother Owen’s death. Shaw is willing to do everything in his power to kill the team. However, He does not realize that the team is ready for him too.

In the beginning of the movie, Hans (Sung Kang) is killed. This is Shaw’s first threat to a life of the member of the team, which really is not a team, but a family. That’s what I will call it from now on, a family. If someone has not seen the entire saga, they would not realize that this is not the first time that we have seen Han’s death. Han’s death is a part of the ending of the third film, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift which did not feature Brian O’Connor (Paul Walker) and the rest of the family. In the third movie, you see Hans’ car blow into flames, however it comes full circle when, in the 7th movie of the franchise, you see his car blow into flames again, instead this time around it is revealed that Deckard Shaw actually shoots the gas take causing Han’s untimely death.

Shaw knew exactly how to get the family mad, he called Dominic Toretto before he killed Hans so that Dom could hear what was going on. Vin Diesel’s pain on his face was so believable; he did an awesome job acting. Immediately after Hans was killed, Deckard blew up the house where Dom, Brian, Brian’s wife Mia (Jordona Brewster), and their child lived in. This was the house that meant everything to them which they spent movie five and six trying to get back to. They were finally content and happy with where they were, and then this man steps in from half-way around the world and completely destroys the home after killing a member of their family. This is where the true hate, determination, and whole reason for this movie starts. I won’t spoil anymore of it for the readers who haven’t seen it yet, but it is definitely worth the few dollars that the ticket costs.
Really, everything is suspenseful, family-oriented, and the end really has the ability to make a person cry like they have never cried before. The soundtrack is one of the best soundtracks I have heard in a really long time. This film earns a perfect score.