James Wan has just proven that he is not a one trick pony by out-doing himself. Furious 7 was one of his best work, but it was the best installment of The Fast And The Furious franchise.
Wan's signature camera movement was prevalent in the opening sequence with Jason Statham, as he walked out the hospital room. The whole cinema was completely in awe as Wan balanced over-exaggerated destruction with controlled mayhem. It was the kind of over-the-top exaggeration that only a Fast And Furious movie can pull off, and even for a non-fan like me, I ate it all up.
And Wan definitely has a great eye for action. We've all seen the heist sequence in the trailers ending with Walker jumping off the edge of a bus falling off the cliff. But from the time the plan got developed to its execution and all that action in between, and that's the entire first half, it was the most fun I've had in the cinema this year so far.
That throwdown in the beginning involving Dwayne Johnson and Statham was incredible. Those punches looked hard and painful and they were dishing it out so convincingly. Again, another credit to Wan, and I'm also wondering if it was Tony Jaa who (had a small-ish role) choreographed the whole thing. This guy is going to really pop in Hollywood.
With Wan's directing, even the cheesy dialogues didn't sound as jarring. To be fair though, Johnson can say anything and still convince anyone. But I believe this was the first time that the subject of love between Vin Diesel and Michelle Rodriguez wasn't cheesy. And the comic relief from Tyrese Gibson and Ludacris were very on-point. Gibson might have just become a better actor too under Wan's direction.
However, there were some negatives, of course. And most of it was in the second half. Because the first half was so enjoyable, I think the second half has kind of ran out of gas a little. It got tiring and became the same-old Fast And Furious shtick of a car chase which usually always bores me.
Let me get into some details, so from this point on will be SPOILERS.
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What I didn't enjoy were some of the plot transitions. A lot of things were clearly made up and forced-fed to the audience. Even though these are typically plot holes for this type of movies but still warrant some highlighting.
For example, we never got a real and clear explanation as to why they needed to parachute their cars off a plane onto a mountain for the heist. And in just one line of "using GPS" from Rodriguez, they have covered the whole plot hole of how none of them have ever used a parachute before and yet they could still pull off the stunt. But I'm going to let this one slide because that was just too much fun.
Silly plot progressions, like when Natalie Emmanuel told the team she mailed the USB drive to a friend in Abu Dhabi, and Diesel's first reaction was, "We're going to Abu Dhabi," instead of, "Can you ask him to mail it back?"
And here's one major plot hole. After Djimon Hounsou got his hands on the uber tracking device, Kurt Russell told the team that Honsou will definitely try to kill Emmanuel's character because she would be able to stop the device from working. Next couple of scenes showed that she didn't even know how, it was Ludacris that came up with the hacking idea.
And lastly, Statham was everywhere in this movie. He was in London, he was in Abu Dhabi, he was wherever Diesel was. He didn't even need that tracking device to locate them. And while in Abu Dhabi, Diesel in that $1.3 million car (you would have thought a never-been-drive-before car worth this much money would have a brake that's working), had the chance to battle it out with Statham and didn't go for the opportunity.
The heist was the best part of the movie unfortunately. I loved it because that's what The Fast And The Furious is: assembling a team of individual expertise and making full use of their abilities in critical moments, like when Diesel told Rodriguez to stay with Walker while he's still on the bus. Why? Because she's the best driver there and was the best option to save Walker.
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At the end, there was a very touching send-off for Walker. Even I almost teared-up when I'm not a even fan. Wan also did a great job with a few scenes that he had yet to shoot with Walker. I'm going to make an educated guess and say it was all in the first half before the action began, and of course the final scene. There was also a scene where Diesel called up Jordana Brewster when clearly that dialogue was meant for Diesel and Walker.
This was definitely Walker's best movie, and he was definitely taken from this world way too soon. But great job on Wan for helping Walker to achieve the next level.
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