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Author Topic: Furious 7 (2015) Sam Graham AKA: "The Evil Sam Graham". Wackiness ensues. Posts: 1431 From: Waukee, IA Registered: Dec 2004 posted 04-03-2015 03:34 PM                        CINEMA: 13th Avenue Warren, Wichita, KS AUDITORIUM: 14 PRESENTATION : Dolby Digital Cinema/THX PRESENTATION PROBLEMS: None RATING: Three stars (out of four) THE PLOT: Goddamned IT people. Wackiness ensues. When last we saw our fast and furious friends, one was dead (no, not Paul Walker) and Jason Statham was teased as the next big villain. Statham is introduced and set up as the main villain here, but that all gets put aside while the gang helps Kurt Russell (who is awesome in this) with a side project that will earn them a super groovy people finder to track Statham. Not that they need it as Statham shows up in literally every action sequence, usually observing from afar as he seems to be thinking "Uh, guys? Wasn't I supposed to be the lead villain? Hellooooo?" Anyway, it's fast, it's furious, and the action is completely ridiculous, but totally kicks ass. And the Paul Walker tribute at the end made me cry like a little girl. Fuckers.  |  IP: Logged Stu Jamieson Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 524 From: Buccan, Qld, Australia Registered: Jan 2008 posted 04-04-2015 06:58 PM                     Yes, the Walker tribute is very good indeed. ::sniff:: (Fuckers.) Going into Furious7, my intial thought is "I wonder what outrageous opener have they cooked up for us this time?" Actually there isn't one. With a new director, James Wan (best known for his horror movies SAW and The Conjuring), comes a slightly different structure for the franchise: no bombastic opener, more character driven, a consolidation of the main themes of family and honour, and a solid return to carcentricity in the action department. These can only be good things, and they are good things. Throughout the franchise each film has presented an automotive variant of an established genre. In order these have been: Point Break, buddy cop movie, crap movie, drug runner movie, heist movie, action blockbuster and with this last instalment, Mission Impossible. Furious7 is a long way from The Fast and the Furious, to be sure, but the transition has largely been successful due to the not inconsiderable charisma of Vin Diesel, the appeal of muscle cars and fast four pocket rockets, and the supremely outrageous but entertaining car-oriented action. Unfortunately, there's still no Monaro or GTHO. With the addition of Jason Statham, Kurt Russell and (to a lesser extent) Lucas Black from Tokyo Drift to an already distinguished headline cast, F&F is seriously heading into Expendable territory. In fact, the cast is so top heavy now that the Rock has to largely sit this one out! But fear not, he does feature in a significant way albeit in a smaller capacity. As indicated in the final moments of Furious6, F7 takes place directly after the events depicted in Tokyo Drift and appropriately revisits the conclusion of the Tokyo episode. Curiously, we are robbed of the drift match between Diesel and Black that was aluded to at the end of that film - a race we've been waiting 9 years to see! Alas it is not to be. (As a side note, as rubbish as Tokyo Drift is, it's worth revisiting it in context of the series as a whole if only to revist Han (Sung Kang) as a completion to his arc plot.) The elephant in the room, of course, is Paul Walker's death during (but unrelated to) the shoot. He was replaced in the film with a combination of body double (his sibling) and CGI. The result is completely successful and not once do you think that you're not looking at the real Paul Walker on the screen. Walker's departure from this franchise (and this earth) is handled with the utmost of respect and elegance in a final tribute that will have the tears welling up. It adds an uncommon poignance to what looks like will be the final film in the franchise - there's no post credit suggestion of a sequel at the end of this one, folks. At movie #7, Furious7 is like visiting old friends - it feels like we've become part of Dom's family ourselves. It represents the franchise at the top of it's game in terms of action, charismatic performances from all involved, inticate plotting and batshit crazy car stunts. This combined with the beautiful, heartfelt send off given to Paul Walker, Furious7 threatens to be the best in the series. And if this is indeed the last of the franchise (notwithstanding some redundant "reboot" in the near future), it's a great way to go out. 8 out of 10  |  IP: Logged Terry Lynn-Stevens Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1081 From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada Registered: Dec 2012 posted 04-06-2015 01:09 AM                     This movie was fantastic, a real popcorn film that was fun and entertaining. Most of the movie was over the top crazy fun. I think this movie had one of the best crowd reactions ever when the super car went through the second tower and into the third tower in Abu Dhabi. The one-liners by Vin Diesel were great. Jason Statham was a pure cardboard character. And it was nice to see Kurt Russell in the movie. Overall this movie was great! I give it an A. There was a pretty cool IMAX countdown with a car revving sounds instead of their usual ones.The movie was presented on the 90 screen at the Scotiabank Theatre in Toronto in IMAX laser. The IMAX laser locations (TLC Chinese and Scotiabank Toronto) now have the full IMAX 1.43 trailers before the feature.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-06-2015 12:01 PM                        People are walking out of this kind of somber, so I think the tribute at the end is really moving them. This is one of the rare movie franchises that even the critics are giving thumbs-up to despite ridiculous stunts and a weak story. They know it's not meant to be a profound story or a meaningful movie; it's all about the fun thrill ride, and in that category it's just what the doctor ordered. Pretty amazing that the filmmakers have managed to keep this franchise relevant for 7 movies (and another one is in the works, from what I've read).  |  IP: Logged Jonathan Goeldner Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1360 From: Washington, District of Columbia Registered: Jun 2008 posted 04-07-2015 09:34 PM                     I'll admit it, this franchise is a guilty pleasure for me - it's nowhere as good as 'Five' but this has a ton of panache and some serious goofy yet exhilarating action set pieces. I dug it... but.. why did Universal NOT give this a Dolby Atmos mix - the 7.1 mix was thunderous, yet there were so many instances where overhead sound sourcing would have been ultra-cool ... what a lost chance.  |  IP: Logged Terry Lynn-Stevens Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1081 From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada Registered: Dec 2012 posted 04-08-2015 10:13 AM                     quote: Jonathan Goeldner but.. why did Universal NOT give this a Dolby Atmos mix - the 7.1 mix was thunderous, yet there were so many instances where overhead sound sourcing would have been ultra-cool ... what a lost chance. Oh but there is http://cineplex.com/Theatres/DolbyAtmos Cineplex is notorious for faking Dolby Atmos releases, I bet Dolby really does not care as they get free exposure of their trailer snipes and product. And there in lies the bigger picture, I bet 99% of the population have no idea what Atmos is and they probably can't hear the difference. http://cineplex.com/Theatres/DolbyAtmos  |  IP: Logged Pravin Ratnam Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 844 From: Atlanta, GA,USA Registered: Sep 2002 posted 04-16-2015 11:34 AM                     Watched it at Regal Atlantic Station RPX(Auditorium 6). Now they have introduced VIP like seating charts which is not practical as the lighting of the seats is not clear once the movie starts. People ignored the seat numbers anyway as the place was not full. Movie plot itself was just OK. Not as good as Part 1 or Part 5. Too much time dwelled on Michelle Rodriguez's amnesia(I felt they should have let the character remain dead). Vin Diesel's acting was painful to watch at times as they put him in situations outside his comfort zone. He is better in movies like the Riddick series or the earlier Furious movies. The Rock is way too bulked up for the Fast and the Furious movies. Fun to watch Kurt Russell again. I wish they did more with the Jason Statham character. He was pretty much a one note villain. THe movie series at some point became less about car chases and more Expendables type action movie. THe 5th movie had the best balance. You just don't feel the danger in the stunts as the stunts become so outlandish and the characters just walk out of them mostly unharmed. The filmmakers did an excellent job filling in the newly shot scenes involving Walker's brothers and other CGI effects to make it seem like it was Walker. If you lived in a cave, you would havce had no idea Paul Walker died in the middle of filming just by watching the finished movie. Great job by WETA. Kurt Russell was fun to watch though I wish they had a villain in this movie similar to Kurt's in Deathproof.  |  IP: Logged

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