Fast & Furious 7

Fast & Furious 7 – After stopping the evil Owen Shaw in his tracks, Dominic Toretto and the rest of his team have been enjoying some normality in their lives. However, when one of the team is murdered and three barely survive an attack on their home, they realise that Shaw’s brother, Deckard, is now after them; hell-bent on revenge. With vengeance also on their minds, Toretto’s team come together once more for the fight of their lives to stop Deckard and, one way or another, ensure that justice is done.

Fast & Furious 7 (2015) – Director: James Wan

Rating: 12

Running Length: 137 mins

Starring: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jason Statham

Genre: Action

REVIEW: ‘FAST & FURIOUS 7’

Following in the footsteps of the previous instalment of the long running, car racing, action packed series, ‘Fast & Furious 7’ has once again mostly moved away from a preoccupation with cars and has delivered a relatively solid action movie. The plot jumps about a bit but is easy enough to follow and the action is top-notch (including some fantastic fight scenes with Thai martial artist Tony Jaa). Fast 7 provides lots of spectacular thrills for many a movie-goer, including a car jumping between skyscrapers (take a pause and contemplate that for a moment) and a breathtaking scene where the gang each ride a car out of a plane (!!!).

Jason Statham delivers a cold, calculating, and thoroughly dangerous villain in Deckard Shaw who is at least evenly matched with Dominic Toretto (played by Vin Diesel) if not a better and more devious fighter altogether. The team, as usual, play their parts well and, while none of them have to stretch their acting abilities too far, their dynamic is very appealing and fun to watch. It is a shame that Dwayne Johnson (who plays the massively muscular Hobbs) does not get more screen time but he does have several shining moments.

Of course no review of ‘Fast & Furious 7’ would be complete without mentioning the late Paul Walker who tragically died while the film was still in production. His role of Brian O’Connor, a man who has spent much of his recent years deep in an action-packed world and is struggling to adapt to family life, is played very well. His is definitely the ‘everyman’ role and is much more relatable than that of the monosyllabic Toretto. The farewell given to him is incredibly touching and it is clear that he was well-loved by those involved in the movie.

While it isn’t going to appeal to everyone, ‘Fast & Furious 7’ is full of excitement, thrilling fight scenes and lots of high-octane car chases making it fun and very watchable for those who simple entertainment which provides plenty of thrills and lots of laughs.

CONTENT: IS ‘FAST & FURIOUS 7’ SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN?

A short scene in a hospital shows a man walking through the building and stepping over bodies while hospital staff cower in fear. As an armed cop stumbles towards him, he hands the cop a grenade, pushes them over and an explosion is seen as the man nonchalantly walks away. Nothing graphic is seen but it is obvious that the cop has been blown up.

As is standard in ‘Fast & Furious’ movies, there are several shots of scantily clad women which some of the men ogle over. There are close-ups of women in bikinis, some gyrating against poles and there are a few lingering shots of a woman’s bottom; she is wearing a thong and a super short skirt so little is left to the imagination! Surprisingly, these moments are relatively few and far between, so much so that they almost seem out-of-place, especially when the main woman in the movie, Letty (played by Michelle Rodriguez), is not objectified in any way and is as strong as any of her male counterparts.

A major character is thrown out of a window due to an explosion and lands heavily onto the roof of a car. He is badly hurt and for a short amount of time, it is unclear whether they are going to survive. Another major character is killed off-screen (the death was previously seen in the third instalment of the series, ‘The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift’) and their funeral is quite sad but not too upsetting. A bomb explodes, destroying a house and three major characters are almost killed.

Two characters drive their cars towards each other and, at high-speed, crash head on. Both leave their cars, a little shaky but are otherwise unharmed. During one of the many car chases, an incidental character is killed when his vehicle crashes into the trunk of a tree which has fallen down, leaving huge, sharp splinters sticking into the air. No blood is seen but this is still quite a shocking moment and audible gasps could be heard from several members of the audience when this happened.

CAN I SEE A CLIP?

VERDICT: IS ‘FAST & FURIOUS 7’ FOR KIDS?

‘Fast & Furious 7’ is an adrenaline rush of a movie. Full of action and excitement but somewhat lacking in-depth, it’s a movie that is undeniably entertaining. Due to a lot of bad language and some sexual objectification of women, we would not recommend this movie for kids aged under 10.

• Violence: 3/5 (lots of fist fights and some using blunt objects. Very little blood is seen but the villains enjoy hurting people and do not have any redeeming features)
• Emotional Distress: 3/5 (The movie ends with a touching tribute to Paul Walker, including brief clips of him in the previous ‘Fast & Furious’ movies. One major character appears to be dead at the end of the movie and a distressed loved one pushes away someone who is trying to save them with CPR, cradles their head and attempts to wake them by talking and reminding them of their past together)
• Fear Factor: 2/5 (Deckard Shaw is a relentlessly aggressive and violent antagonist but doesn’t do anything unnecessarily cruel so should not be too frightening for kids)
• Sexual Content: 3/5 (one character is being made fun of and there is a reference to a girl he went to college with, nicknamed ‘No-Knees Denise’. Someone describes a very expensive and stylish car and another character jokingly says that he is ‘aroused’ by it)
• Bad Language: 4/5 (almost constant mild to moderate cursing and blasphemy which is impossible to avoid)
• Dialogue: 0/5
• Other notes: Deals with themes of teamwork, family, friendships, not taking a good life for granted, love, revenge and doing what’s necessary for the people you care about.

Words by Laura Record

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