Before the first image of “Furious 7,” a low rumbling fills the air – is it engines revving or Vin Diesel clearing his throat? Either way, the nipples harden.
After a quick introduction to our antagonist, Jason Statham, we return to the familiar shorn domes of the Fast and Furious crew: Vin Diesel, the Rock, Tyrese Gibson and Co. These principals spend the next two hours smacking into each other across the globe like billiard balls.
James Wan eschews narrative coherence and directs the film to fulfill audience wishes moment by moment, with wild ideas that could be drawn straight from “Fast and Furious” fan fiction. Parachuting cars onto a highway from a cargo plane! Having the assumed-deceased amnesiac Michelle Rodriguez visit her own grave! Continuing to employ Chris “Ludacris” Bridges as an actor!
On the other hand, “Furious 7” must be lauded for an ensemble cast that resembles the ensemble that is America – it generates a massive box office in which only a quarter of the ticket buyers are white.
The film follows a charmingly repetitious pattern to establish locations. For instance, Abu Dhabi is named as the next destination, a character clarifies that this city is in the Middle East and then there’s an establishing shot with camels (not to mention the anonymous backends of muscle cars and women, admired waist to pavement). The multiple climaxes of the film resemble the board game Clue: if you had Ronda Rousey in the Etihad Towers shouting in Arabic, or the Rock in the hospital flexing off his full-arm cast with his bicep, or Diesel in the collapsing parking lot attacking with an oversized wrench, you’re a winner.
“Furious 7” gives a heartfelt farewell to the dead-in-real-life Paul Walker, whose CGI ghost rides off into ... well, you know. As Diesel intones, “it’s never goodbye” (to the franchise).
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“Furious 7” is showing at the Sonoma 9 Cinemas. Rated PG-13 and running time is 2:17.
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