Fast and Furious 7

This review may contain spoilers!

Compared to some of the past films this latest instalment is a bit of a let down. I would give Fast and Furious 7 a 7/10.

This film has some fantastic special effects which really show us how far this franchise has some from it's early beginnings. I also think that the car stunts and fight choreography has only gotten better too, it really filled the film with some fast action. The cinematography really went hand in hand with these elements, there were some beautiful shots within this film. The music, both the score and the soundtrack, felt very classic to the franchise and worked well with the film. The tribute to Paul Walker really was the most heartfelt moment of the film and was very moving to watch.

Vin Diesel, who played Dominic Toretto, really leads this franchise with such brilliant direction; he's always one of the strongest presences onscreen. Paul Walker, who played Brian O'Connor, had some brilliant chemistry with Diesel; this was a very strong last performance and he will be missed on and off screen. Jason Statham, who played Deckard Shaw, was a fantastic antagonist; Statham creates a role full of menace but also one who carries themselves right in the role that they play. Michelle Rodriguez, who played Letty, really showed how great an actress she was in this film; the subplot of her memory loss and coping with it was really powerful right up until the ending thought that certainly wasn't on Rodriguez but rather bad writing. Tyrese Gibson, who played Roman, was a really entertaining role; Gibson is always on fire when he's onscreen and he keeps the film feeling fresh. Ludacris, who played Tej, worked well with all the tech vernacular he had in this film; he really stepped his role up and showed where his talents lie. Dwayne Johnson, who played Hobbs, is really one of the most badass characters in the franchise; he has an incredibly strong screen presence.

However the best performance of the film was Kurt Russell, who played Mr. Nobody. Russell was hilarious, frankly he had the best dialogue of the film. This was balanced with some fantastic energy onscreen, he was always the strongest performance in any scene he was in. Furthermore Russell felt like a fresh character and has really helped these films evolve.

This film really suffered from it's weird pacing; the space between the action is very drawn out. Plus the structure is quite odd, every action scene the heroes fight Shaw inexplicably. Beyond that the plot doesn't make a whole lot of sense; if they had never gone after the hacker and her invention in the first place then they would never have the escalated conflict that they did in the final scenes. This film was also bogged down by some terrible subplots that really drew away from how good the film could have been.

Jordana Brewster, who played Mia, really lacked screen presence; I'm tired of watching her sit on the sidelines and do nothing. Lucas Black, who played Sean Boswell, was an unwelcome cameo; his voice and connection to his character was clearly long gone. Nathalie Emmanuel, who played Ramsey, was one of the worst performances of the film; her role was very monotone and this was nothing interesting about her beyond the fact she was just a plot device. Elsa Pataky, who played Elena, lacked screen presence; it almost felt like they were just trying to force her character to have a reason to stay in the franchise. Djimon Hounsou, who played Jakande, was a really disappointing villain; he was born out of a plot that should never have existed and felt little more than a minor villain until he was forced to be made more important than he was.