Furious 7 Review

Starring: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, Jason Statham, Dwayne Johnson, Kurt Russel

Confession: I've never seen a single The Fast and the Furious movie. I've always favored more realistic movies, calling the franchise "full of crap" and refusing to watch any of them on the basis that I'm a serious movie-goer. This is much to the dismay of my best friend, who's tried to introduce me to the series a number of times. So what would make me go to the theater and see the seventh installment, against everything I stand for? First Paul Walker died. I was a huge fan of Eight Below when I was a kid (I legitimately watched it probably 100 times as a kid) so I felt like I grew up with him, which made it moderately sad when he tragically passed away. That piqued my interest, as they advertised this as his "last ride". This also quickly became the highest-grossing movie in the past two  years, broke a bunch of records, and everyone's been raving about how great it is. So I checked it out. I mean, I'm the movie guy, and I can't allow myself to see what might be the biggest movie of all time. Was it worth it, though? Has my opinion changed? A big YES! I love this movie. I think it's done fantastically, and boasts great action sequences, and great acting. And yes, it has a spectacular ending that serves as a tribute to Walker. Read on to get my full review where I'll break down this blockbuster as best as I can.

The opening had me a little skeptical. I've always thought the franchise was a little sexist, featuring a bunch of scantily-clad models draped over cars. This movie opened with a drag race, with women walking around in high heels and showing off their butts. It was a little off-putting and made me roll my eyes. But it soon graduated into a movie that surprisingly packed some heft. I had to quickly learn some information, like Michelle Rodriguez's character having amnesia after presumably dying in a previous movie, and that Jason Statham's assassin/terrorist wanted revenge for his brother's crippling by Dominic Torreto (Diesel) and his team. But you can walk into this movie blind and get away with it. Nothing is too confusing. The internationalism is well handled. The scene in Dubai is great, and a fight between Rodriguez's character and a female bodyguard is executed to perfection. To be honest, all of the fighting scenes are great. Over the top (everyone knows ju-jitsu?), but believable once you accept that the whole movie is going to be action-packed. As far as acting goes, the whole cast does well. Diesel and Rodriguez shine the brightest, and Walker also turns in a very good performance. Kurt Russell is good as well, and Dwayne Johnson has some great scenes.

By far, the most enjoyable part for me was the ending. I've never seen any of the other movies, but when they brought out the footage I got emotional. And with everything all the actors were saying, and an amazing use of music with "See You Again", I found myself crying at Furious 7. That's right, I cried in a The Fast and the Furious movie. The ending was obviously cut different from the rest of the movie, but it felt authentic, not like something that was just tacked on because they had to address Paul Walker's death. Because they didn't need to. The fact that these actors, some of his best friends and practically his family for the past fifteen years, paid such a meaningful tribute to him (in the film, as they could have just done it through promotion) is extraordinary. Thinking of that, and the song, (and maybe feeling overwhelmed at seeing such an awesome movie) made me emotional. I think Walker's death is contributing to the movie being such a hit. It's great to see that so many people cared about him and want to see his last movie. His death hit so hard that outsiders like me were curious. But at the end of the day, this movie has made over $1 billion dollars in 18 days, and was the fastest to get to the billion dollar club. What's making people come back over and over again to see Furious 7? That answer is clear. It's simply a fantastic movie.

I'd recommend this movie to anyone who likes action. Because it's pretty obvious that if you don't like action movies, this will do nothing for you. I'm pretty sure I'm late to the party on Furious 7 (and extremely late to the franchise) so I bet the diehard fans have already seen it. I'm just letting everyone know that a non-fan like myself can go in and have a great time. This was probably one of the most satisfying and greatest movie experiences I can remember. The script is a little over-the-top with some lines that could be cringe-worthy, but they're not if you're engrossed in what's on the screen. So I really can't take off anything for the lines. I can't believe I'm giving this four stars, but I just can't find anything that much that's wrong with it. Some scenes are ridiculous. A plane literally drops cars from the sky, and they freefall until they activate parachutes and land on the road. I hate to admit it, but I loved every second of that scene. I really hope this is the last movie in the franchise. I'd see another, but the tribute to Walker, and the fact that I'd like this to be the only one that I see. Too much racing might ruin this movie for me, so the rest of the movies might have to wait...

Rating:

Insurgent Review

Starring: Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Kate Winslet, Miles Teller, Naomi Watts, Ansel Elgort

The second movie in a series is always going to be the hardest to pull off. The first movie's job is to reel you in, and introduce you to the characters and plot. If the first movie fails, there isn't even a possibility of a sequel. The job of the sequel is to elevate the material. It needs to raise the stakes and flesh out the characters. Countless sequels have done this ans succeeded. But for every The Empire Strikes Back, Toy Story 2, and Catching Fire, there is a Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and sadly, an Insurgent. The director of this movie obviously thought elevating the story meant dropping it altogether, and replacing it with as many visual effects and cool explosions as humanly possible. I'm serious, this movie has the most cringe-worthy overuse of visual effects I've seen yet. They unfortunately take the place of the intriguing script. By the end of the movie, the whole thing is pretty much a colossal failure for the average moviegoer, but it does have a few inconsistent bright spots.

The bright spots are the actors and the world building. I believe that Divergent did a great job of really immersing the viewer into the universe, and it introduces you to all the characters. Insurgent unfortunately throws away much of what made the first succeed, but still builds upon a very interesting universe. I really enjoyed the opening, where Kate Winslet is projected onto the buildings delivering her evil message. Kate Winslet is amazing as Jeanine, the main antagonist. I liked her more than I did in Divergent, and she was a much more commanding presence. Winslet really brings prestige to the movie. Miles Teller is also charming as Peter, and I thought he was able to stay afloat even when the dialogue written was trying to bring him down. Theo James and Ansel Elgort are also good as Four and Caleb, but they don't have much to do. They don't elevate their book characters. Naomi Watts plays the resistance leader, and as menacing as she looks and carries herself, she actually doesn't really do much. Watts is a great actor, but save for Winslet, all the adult actors seem like wasted talent. Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer says maybe two lines in the whole movie.

I haven't said anything about Tris yet. That's because I found Shailene Woodley to be very bad in the role. I really commended her for her acting in Divergent, but she really disappointed me here. I've read the books, and Tris is a very unlikeable character. But Woodley was able to make her likeable in Divergent, and she's just so bad in this movie. I could blame the script, but she has some part in it as well. She's whiny, she's annoying, and she seems like she's not even on set acting with everyone. This movie's dialogue fails, but Shailene Woodley could look like she's actually trying. There's one scene where she has to fight a projection of herself in a simulation, and two of Tris was just too much. I'd also like to point out that while in the simulation, every single thing she touches explodes into a million pieces. Why? For 3D, and that's the only reason. The effects are so overused it's cheesy. Fight scenes seem forced, the dialogue seems forced, and only some of the actors seem like they actually are trying to give good performances. To say its effects are spectacular means nothing today, because movies have such huge budgets that they all have good effects. It's only when something groundbreaking is attempted, like in Gravity that it's actually praised with sincerity. There's none of that here. It just feels like your standard young-adult adaptation, with nothing new.

Insurgent was the first movie in a long, long time that I felt just truly wasted my time. I love to see Kate Winslet act, but she's good in just about everything, so there's a better use of my attention out there somewhere. And if I want a movie with over-the-top effects and cringe-worthy dialogue that's "so bad it's enjoyable" I'll watch the Transformers series again, because robots talking about intergalactic war with humans literally carries more weight than Shailene Woodley does in this movie.

Rating: