It’s been five years sinceFurious 7first sped in theaters back in April 2015. On paper, five years doesn’t seem like such a long time. But in movie years, where things move faster than Dominic Toretto’s 1970 Dodge Charger down an open highway, that’s a long way back in time. A lot can happen in half a decade. When it comes to theFast & Furiousuniverse, five years has helped solidify my firmly-held beliefFurious 7is the peak of this massive action franchise, where it manages to be bombastic and brash without yet being forced to jump the shark, and a perfect presentation of its foundational tenet that family is the most important institution in this life.
Furious 7is the best movie of the franchise primarily because of its emotional core. This core is largely made up of all the ways in which the latePaul Walker’s memory is preserved on screen. Before seeingFurious 7, I’d been a casualFast & Furiousviewer. I’d seenThe Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Driftand2 Fast 2 Furious(in that order, by the way) when they’d made their way to cable. At the time, I didn’t appreciate the franchise for what it was, a set of movies actively working to champion the powerful bonds of family through any and all hardships. Instead, I wrote it off as a franchise which catered to the flashy, adrenaline-fueled, masculine moviegoing populace of which I was decidedly not a part.
SeeingFurious 7made everything click into place. Here was a movie more focused on exploring what has become its cornerstone theme. This movie succeeded in doing this by honoring Walker, who had been an integral part of the franchise since filming onThe Fast and the Furiousbegan in July 2000, in making sure his final performance as Brian O’Connor onscreen wasn’t treated as some afterthought. I’d read the details of Walker’s tragic and untimely passing just a few years before and had been somewhat familiar with how directorJames Wanand theFast & Furiousteam went about preserving his performance andbringing in his brother,CalebWalker, to serve as a stand-in. But I was not prepared for how well Walker had been digitally integrated intoFurious 7, nor was I prepared for the final scene.
One of the most intense sense memories I have as a moviegoer is trying to quietly choke back tears at the end ofFurious 7in a packed IMAX theater. I was sitting in the center of a full house ofFast & Furiousfans and could feel the rising tide of emotion as we tried to grapple with the final moments of that thrilling third act. Together, we’d sat through more than two hours of action, cheering on Dominic (Diesel), Brian (Walker) Letty (MichelleRodriguez), Mia (Jordana Brewster), Roman (Tyrese Gibson), Tej (Chris “Ludacris” Bridges), Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson), and Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel) as they battled it out with Deckard Shaw. And while we were still trying to process some of the most bananas action sequences this franchise had ever offered us (including thishall-of-famer), the audience got hit with the final scene, a moment franchise starVinDieseltoday calls the“best moment in cinematic history”(and I’m inclined to agree).
In the span of just a few minutes,Furious 7managed to summarize what made both this movie so great and the Fast & Furious franchise so great. Seeing Dom and Brian take one final ride together, their cars taking separate paths following a fork in the road asCharliePuth&WizKhalifa’s track“See You Again”swells in the background, was deeply emotional. Sure, it may have been a little over the line in terms of cheesiness, but it was effective. Having that moment cap off a movie where it was clear pains had been taken to make sure Walker’s likeness was convincingly integrated intoFurious 7in the wake of his passing and have it serve as the final time we see Walker on screen in any capacity was just perfect. Even former poo-pooers of the franchiser, myself included, would be hard-pressed to neg Dom and Brian’s final ride into the sunset. It was just too poignant and too well-done to not be affected by watching it in the theater. Hell, it still gets me choked up to this day.
Even before we get to the final scene, it’s evident a decision, either consciously or subconsciously, was made to have Brian’s arc be the emotional core. He has always been an anchor in this franchise, a surrogate co-parent of sorts alongside Dom as one a franchise OG.Furious 7isn’t just about Brian once again working with his friends to save the world. It’s also about him facing some very real decisions about when he’s going to leave his muscle car in the garage for good and become the world’s #1 minivan driver as he hustles his kids to school. Moments like Brian’s son’s teacher joking, “Don’t worry, you’ll get used to this,” after she helps him figure out how to open his minivan door take on an extra weight upon further rewatch. No doubt originally meant to be a light remark about Brian’s transition into a new chapter of his life, the line hits so much harder given the real-world context around Walker’s passing. Brian’sFurious 7journey to re-evaluating what his priorities are now that he’s no longer some young hotshot working undercover for the LAPD is really affecting to watch, especially as you find yourself bracing with every potentially bone-crunching stunt he gets himself into. It’s hard not to be immediately drawn to Brian’s arc as you watchFurious 7, where the reality and impact of the loss of Walker colors every scene he’s in and sets the table, so to speak, for how the franchise will have to handle his absence in future movies.
On a final note,Furious 7is also the best movie of the franchise so far — and probably ever — because it manages to come right up to the line of being over-the-top without actually pushing its luck. Sure, theFast & Furiousfranchise has seen its fair share of physics-defying, logic-busting stunts before.Furious 7is no exception with stunts like the team parachuting a caravan of sleek muscle cars into the Caucasus mountains or watching Dom and Shaw fight with actual heavy auto parts in a busted parking garage without sustaining an injury. But at least these stunts still stay within the realm of car-based action; there’s nosubmarines, high-tech missiles, or flashyprivate jet fistfightsinvolving playing “Hot Potato” with an infant just yet. The action inFurious 7is the platonic ideal of what this franchise has sought to contribute to the genre for years and pulls it off with aplomb.
Will there ever beFast & Furiousmovie that can unseatFurious 7as the best of the lot? I’ll let you know when I seeF9.
