Fast & Furious 7
A super-charged sequel that’s a fitting tribute...
Director James Wan Starring Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Paul Walker ETA 3 April
There’s no stopping the juggernaut that is the Fast & Furious franchise. With two-and-aquarter billion dollars already banked by the previous six installments, Fast & Furious 7 is now set to rev into multiplexes with its biggest vehicle yet – the mental trailer promises muscle cars tumbling out of a plane to parachute their way to the streets, a heavily weaponised bus and a cliffhanger stunt that makes all the previous franchise mayhem look positively sensible.
Fast & Furious 6 ended, of course, with Jason Statham popping up to tell our ragtag heroes, “You don’t know me. You will.” Fast & Furious 7 sees the Brit action star making good on that promise – his Deckard Shaw is out to revenge the death of his brother, Owen (Luke Evans), thus teasing viewers with the promise of seeing Dwayne Johnson, Vin Diesel and The Stath having a three-way. The rest of the crew (Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, et al.) are along for the ride also, while Djimon Hounsou and, praise be, Kurt Russell have managed to muscle in on the action.
As gleeful as the carnage, bromance and girls in bikinis might be, however, Fast & Furious 7 will inevitably be leant a sadness by the passing of Paul Walker. The actor’s signature role was series stalwart Brian O’Conner, and his scenes could only be completed via a script rejig and Walker’s brothers, Caleb and Cody, stepping in to body double. With a new director behind the wheel – The Conjuring’s James Wan takes over from Justin Lin, who directed numbers 3,4,5 and 6 – it’ll be interesting to see if the gears click as smoothly as ever. “It’s like being invited to a Thanksgiving dinner and the whole family’s already carving the turkey,” jokes Wan. Still, he knows what he wants, saying, “I’m looking at it like a gritty, ’70s thriller.”