The Chris Morgan written and James Wan directed Furious 7 broke the box office this weekend with its worldwide total of over $384 million, against a budget of $250 million.
With the previous three installments being set between 2003’s 2 Fast 2 Furious and 2006’s The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Furious 7 is the first film of the series to mostly take place after Tokyo Drift.
The action packed sequel to the 2013 film Fast and Furious 6 and the seventh installment in the Fast & Furious film series stars Vin Diesel, the late Paul Walker, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Jason Statham and veteran actor Kurt Russell .
After defeating Owen Shaw and his crew and securing their amnesties, Dominic Toretto (Diesel), Brian O’Conner (Walker), and the rest of the crew are able to return to the United States and live normal lives again. Dom tries to help Letty (Rodriguez) regain her memories, while Brian begins to accustom himself to life as a father. Meanwhile, all the action is set to take place once Owen’s older brother, Deckard Shaw (Statham), breaks into the secure hospital the comatose Owen is being held in and swears vengeance against Dom.
Furious 7 marks the last film appearance of Paul Walker, who died on November 30, 2013, with filming only half-completed. After Walker’s death, filming was delayed for script re-writes and his brothers, Caleb and Cody, were used as stand-ins to complete his remaining scenes. Furious 7 was released first in Australia on April 2, 2015, and then in the United States on April 3, 2015, and was released in 3D internationally.
Although many would assume otherwise, The most suspenseful factor in Furious 7 had nothing to do with typical drag racing, high energy fight scenes, or endless flying bullets. Ever since Paul Walker’s death in November 2013, fans have questioned Brian O’Connor’s last moments in the series: Would he be killed? Or would he voluntarily leave his street racing life behind?
Without going into graphic detail, I’ll just feature one minor spoiler by saying that during the quest to help Dom take down the villainous Deckard Shaw, Walker’s character doesn’t die. Instead, he decides to focus on what matters to him the most: His family.
After a series of events, the heartwarming moments comes at the end Brian and Dom are driving alongside one another, and the road comes to a fork, Brian goes one way, and Dom goes the other. All the while Dom’s voiceover tells Brian that no matter how far away he is, he’ll always be his brother.
Once the two drivers part ways, the film goes into a memorable montage of Walker’s journey throughout the series, from his early Fast and the Furious days as an FBI agent, up to the present day of his solid friendship with Dom whom he once tried to put away.
The ending was a beautiful send-off on the account of not only Dom Toretto saying goodbye to Brian O’Connor, but Vin Diesel saying goodbye to Paul Walker. It was not only about him losing a beloved co-star, but also losing a beloved friend.
Low and behold Furious 7 is a must see, but if you are a Paul Walker fan, you may want to bring tissue for the grand finale.
