How did we get here? Fourteen years ago the original Fast and Furious was unleashed upon an unsuspecting audience, an unashamed action flick about an undercover cop in the underground street racing scene. A couple of lacklustre sequels later and most thought Fast had run out of fuel, until Justin Lin took the franchise a gave it a remodel. Furious 7 is a behemoth blockbuster, and while purists might point out it bears little resemblance to the original, it delivers what a big chunk of the cinema-going audience craves on a Friday night: action, fun, and not a whole lot of thinking.
Let’s get this out of the way first: this film makes no sense. At all. If you’re looking for a film with an airtight plot, realistic physics, or realistic anything for that matter, watch something else. The plot, such as there is one, has the Fast gang under threat from the big bad brother of a previous villain, and so they have to travel across the globe hunting a computer chip, for reasons.
As you might expect, the performances in the film are larger than life - especially from Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson who appear to have taken the whole larger-than-life idea quite literally. The script is pretty dreadful, so none of the stars have much of an opportunity to shine - even two time Oscar nominee Djimon Hounsou is essentially reduced to yelling commands from a helicopter. On the positive side, the main cast have been together so long that they have a genuine and infectious chemistry, you would believe them as a family even without Diesels several monologues to that effect. Michelle Rodriguez is compelling as an amnesiac, actually an interesting sub-plot which deserved much more attention than it receives - though Rodriguez makes the most of what she is given. Kurt Russell is fun in a cameo role, Ludacris delivers on most of the film’s laughs, and Jason Statham is a believable threat, however none of them are fully fleshed-out characters and serve mostly to move the plot forwards. Overall the cast do everything that is asked of them, its just that they aren’t asked to do very much.
I saw the film in a packed auditorium, and I’m pretty sure they were all there for the same reason, to see the action and the stunts - you know, the ones that were in the trailer? Director James Wan and his stunt coordinators have put together several stunning action set-pieces, they are all brilliantly executed and even have some surprises in store. Action is not always given its due credit, often it is taken for granted in this kind of film, however an awful lot of imagination and hard work has gone into creating sequences that are entertaining. The fight scenes are especially well filmed, they suffer the same affliction as many western action films where fast cuts are used to hide blows not connecting, however the stunt team and actors give bruising and energetic performances, and the camerawork highlights the action in a satisfying way - sometimes spinning upside down to follow the movement of the fight. The car stunts are both sublime and ridiculous, as well as highly entertaining. James Wan has managed to make them feel really dangerous, as one faceless henchman meets a sticky end there was an appreciative “ooooooooh” from the audience, it is no small feat to still bring fresh ideas to motor stunts 7 films into a franchise. When it comes down to it, Furious 7 sells itself as an action blockbuster, and thankfully delivers on this front.
It would be remiss not to mention, and pay tribute to the late Paul Walker. The tragedy of his death was widely reported, as was its impact on a film still in production. Judging by the heartfelt words of cast and crew, Walker’s death clearly had a huge impact on his colleagues also. The technology used to finish the film, as well as stand-in performances by Walker’s brothers, blend almost seamlessly into the finished product - a truly remarkable achievement. The film works a tribute for Walker into its final scenes which, while they do not tonally fit with the rest of the film, work beautifully by themselves. Walker’s legacy needed to be handled with delicacy and respect, not exactly the hallmarks of the series, however it is something the filmmakers managed to get right.
Something the filmmakers absolutely did not get right is the gender politics. Simply, the treatment of female characters is not good enough. Leering low-angle shots of women in bikinis are peppered throughout the film, seemingly whenever the producers are worried people might be struggling to pay attention. Who makes the decision to film these shots? Is some poor storyboard artist forced to draw these panels? Just, Why? There is nothing wrong with including beautiful people in films, it is a visual medium after all, however including these shots for literally no reason whatsoever is appalling. I am not well versed in feminist arguments, so I’ll approach this from a filmmaking perspective. Nathalie Emmanuel’s character is shown emerging from the ocean scantily clad, as two male characters have a humorous exchange as to who has “dibs”. This doesn’t move the plot forward, has nothing to do with Emmanuel’s character, the two males are not brought into some kind of conflict over their feelings. Furthermore, nothing about this scene is original, not a thing. The worst thing is that the filmmakers have tried. There are some strong female roles, and the aforementioned scene of the two men staking their claim ends with Michelle Rodriguez making fun of their chauvinism. The film is trying to have its sexist cake and eat it too, which kind of makes it worse. There is simply no need for this sort of thing in films, surely nobody in the auditorium is so desperate to see bikini models that they paid the ticket price solely for that reason? This kind of lazy filmmaking, no doubt perpetuated by insecure producers who think their audiences are stupid, needs to stop. I hate writing this kind of thing, it’s surely not fun to read, but it has to be said. Furious 7 is a worse film because of its treatment of women, I know people who will not watch it for this reason, Hollywood needs to wake up. Rant over.
Overall Furious 7 is an enjoyable film. The action sequences, which are the film’s big draw, are executed brilliantly and are worth the price of admission to see on a big screen. The plot is non-existent, however provides moments of fan-service for long-time devotees of the series. While having a few decent roles for women, this is not nearly enough and in no way outweighs the outdated sexist streak running through the film. There is plenty to like about Furious 7, hopefully Fast and Furious V8 will take go the ezra mile terms of story and gender politics, add a little substance to the style and take the next leap this franchise needs. Cinema would be better for it.
WHO: Michelle Rodriguez, if there is a spin-off it should be hers.
WHAT: The Abu Dhabi stunt, silly silly brilliant stuff.
WHY: This film was made to entertain, and is a lot of fun.
WHEN: I think the correct order in which to watch these films is 1,2,4,5,6,3,7. Maybe. It doesn’t matter.
No comments:
Post a Comment