Furious 7

Furious 7

Rated PG-13 and Released in Grand Rapids 4/3/15

Reviewed 4/7/15 at Celebration North Theatre

with Gary

2 out of 5 Js in QUIET Rating System

I don't think I am spoiling anything when I say Furious 7 is mindless and predictable. Apparently this has not slowed down the franchise that began in 2001. Case in point, it made almost $144 million opening weekend. It's the ultimate guy's movie, but far too long at 137 minutes. This just means plenty of time for an excessive amount of absurdity, nonetheless absurdity can be very entertaining. Although Vin Diesel, playing Dominic Toretto, reminds me more and more of Sylvester Stallone. Just fight, but please don't try to act. The fewer the lines the better! At the conclusion, the film has a nice tribute to the late Paul Walker, which is tough to pull off after an energized flick. I confess I got a bit teary.

The new threat to the gang is the dark and brooding Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham). He is hunting the same renowned computer hacker Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel) that Dominic and his gang are after. She is the key to the whole operation. This sets into motion the car chases, explosions, and even a cat fight between Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) and a bruiser body guard gal.

A pleasant surprise is scene stealer Kurt Russell playing government operative Snake Plissken. Russell is an impressive diversion. Too bad for the acting "bar" that he isn't in more scenes. Furious 7 is entertaining with the crazy number of digitized car stunts as well as the characters surviving crashes and dodging bullets like they are super heroes. But then that is why audiences keep coming back. See it sometime, but my recommendation is to save this for home. You can watch it while doing your taxes or folding some laundry so the whole 2 hours and 17 minutes are not lost to the nonsense that we embrace.

QUIET Rating system: 2 Js

Quality: J

Understood story:  Jj

Interest: JJJ

Entertainment:  JJJj

Time:  J