Furious 7 [USA, 2015]

Nine Things About the Film Furious 7

1. It's kinda cool to see our fast and furious gang back again. But the series now needs to fit in the category of "fantasy", because everybody has become magical, indestructible superheroes, and the plot has absolutely nothing to do with reality. And I understand why the title was shortened to "Furious 7". The movie is kind of slow until the last 45 minutes.

2. For some reason, James Wan directed this movie. Up to now, he has only directed horror movies (he's most famous for Saw).

3. There are actually two plots in the film. The first is a continuation of part 6. Jason Statham plays Deckard, the brother of the bad guy in the last film. Statham is probably best known as the guy in The Transporter, and he plays basically the same character in this film. I suspect that Deckard really is the Transporter, and this is what he does between jobs.

4. The second plot is about a secret organization in the government that is looking for a hacker. Even though they have all the resources, computer experts, and hundreds of agents, they can't get the hacker. So they hire these six renegade car racers to do it.

5. The technology in the film is very interesting. It turns out that if you put a bomb on the front porch of a house, the house will explode from the inside. Also, there is now a little computer chip that allows you to look at every camera, computer, and cell phone in the world, at the same time.  Oh yeah, and if you want to override the security system of one of the richest men in the world, all you have to do is open the phone outlet and cut the orange wire.

6.  Paul Walker died halfway through filming, so the script had to be rewritten, and Walker's brothers were used as stand-ins for him. Computer effects were added onto the brothers to make them look like Paul. Yes, Paul Walker has become computer-generated.

7.  Lucas Black, the star of the 3rd "Fast and Furious" film, has a cameo in this movie. He has signed on to be in part 8 and 9.

8. The film came up with a classy way to write Paul Walker out of the story, while guaranteeing that the series will continue. And the best part of the movie is the very end, which is a tribute to Paul.

9. This movie is dumb, loud, and ridiculous. But if you know what you're getting into (and you should, considering this is the 7th movie), it's not terrible.