Furious 7 Review

Wan is a horror director and shoots action like one, all canted angles and swooping camera moves, which produces individual images with more energy than Lin ever attempted and sequences that are much harder to follow. The plot barely exists. Jason Statham materializes wherever the story needs a threat, a surveillance program supplies motivation on demand, and the film hops between Los Angeles, Abu Dhabi and the Caucasus with no sense that these places are connected by anything except a travel budget.

The cars dropped from a plane and the jump between towers are enormous and weightless, impressive in the moment and gone by the next scene. What lifts the film is the ending. Paul Walker died during production, the completion involved digital work and his brothers, and rather than hide the situation the film builds a farewell that lets Brian retire instead of die. It is sincere, carefully judged, and the only passage with any real stakes. As a movie it is a shambles. As a goodbye it is close to perfect.