Fast 7

Okay, so I'm not a car person.  I like a car more for how it looks than for what's under the hood.  Not that I don't like having a little power under my hood or that  I drive at or below the speed limit at all times (my wife and my driving record can attest to that).  Still, I've loved the Fast and Furious films from the very first one.  I think I especially liked the relationship between Brian and Dom.  I've often been the good kid in my group of friends, and I can relate to being torn between what you're supposed to be and your loyalty to your friends.  No, I've never been a cop that's friends with a gang of criminals, but still I've connected personally to Brian.  So, when Pul Walker died before filming ws complete, I almost convinced myself that I wouldn't want to even see Fast 7.  Obviously, I never really was going to let myself go through life not knowing how everything pans out, so I hit the theaters and here's what I thought.
First and foremost, I'm pretty sure that the only film in this francise that has plot somewhat as a strong point would be the original film (well, the remake of the original film, to be exact, but we aren't including the 1955 film, which has nothing to do with the modern franchise).  Plot was obviously not a concern for the last couple installments, and Fast 7 does little to redeem the writting staff.  I could go on for at least a couple paragraphs about how ridiculous the plot is at times.  Serriously, it starts with the bad guy monologuing to his comatose brother about the future being a reflection of the past in a hospital that he just basically destroyed in order to encourage the doctors to take good care of their patient.  I don't know about you, but if I was worried about my brother in the hospital, the last think I'd want to do is blow the hospital up.  Now, instead of taking care of his brother, the staff is dealing with the dozens of trauma patients he just handed them, plus there's probably materials and resources they won't have now that have their building was destroyed.  For someone that's supposed to be a genius, he sure does some unintelligent things from time to time.  Anyways, bottom line, rather than coming up with a believable and perfectly logical plot, Fast 7 is more concerned with how they can top driving a tank down the freeway and taking down a plane.  Each film has driven (pun only slightly intended) itself to out do the one before.  Heck, they had to bring in Dwayne Johnson, 'cause,  you know, Vin Diesel just isn't big enough.  So, this film features such improbable sequences as parachuting cars and cars jumping from one skyscraper to another.  Apparently, they had Brian state early on in the movie that cars don't fly just so they could prove that he's wrong.  So, yeah, there's not a terribly realistic plot, but, if you've made it this far, you obviously don't care that much.  But, on the flipside, Fast 7 delivers several thrills that are still intense and exciting after almost 100 years of action films.
Visually, Fast 7 is everything we've come to expect from the series.  There's lots of awesome cars driving really fast and plenty of crashes and even the occational explosion.  Really, is there anything else we really need from a car movie?  Okay, so there's only one actual race, and it's not even really a plot point, but there are lots of chases and, as mentioned before, flying cars.  There's enough intensity that I found myself holding my breath a couple times waiting to see if so-and-so would make it or not.  There's a couple new locations, so we don't get too tired of LA, and martial arts, parcore, street fighting, and gun fights to make sure we don't get too tired of just car chases.  All in all, it's a great action film, with plenty of excitement and it certainly has it's place in the franchise.
For the last four films, the challenge was tying in the flop that was Tokyo Drift.  Finally, we've tied it in and gotten past it.  Though Tokyo Drift still kind of feels like an awkward third wheel in the series, it's now at least relevant to the rest of the films and that's an acheivement.  That being finally accomplished, the franchise seemed at first to be back on track to go where ever it needed too, but the death of Paul Walker threw a curve ball, and in addition to wrapping up the Tokyo Drift tie in, it had to write out Brian.  I knew it was coming and every time he was in any sort of danger, I was convinced it was over for him.  I was honestly still expecting something to happen after the bad guys were all beat and everyone was just relaxing.  When they didn't (spoiler alert?), I was so happy and pleased that the writers realized they don't have to kill someone for them to not be in future installments. If anything, I'm most pleased with this installment of the franchise for the tasteful and respectful way that they said goodbye to Paul.  I must admit I cried through most of the last scene.  It was a beautiful farewell, and though I'm sad it was necessary, I'm so glad at how well it was done.
I mentioned earlier that my favorite thing about the series is the relationship between Brian and Dom, and now I must say, I'm really not sure there should be a Fast 8.  Hobbs is the natural choice to replace Brian as the more clean cut, professional team member, but Dwayne Johnson is the Rock, and he acts like that.  There's no way he has the acting chops to become as lovable and likable as Paul was.  Introducing a new character would be insensitive if it was too obviously a replacement.  Recasting Brian can't happen, but I'm sure they'll do something.  Universal won't want to get rid of their biggest money maker.  I'm apprehensive, but interested about where things go from here.
So, for those that care to know, there's some language, plenty of violence, but relatively mild and clean, and they, as always, push how much skin they show on the ladies.  I personally will be purchasing the film, but will probably be content to wait until the price drops from it's initial release.  I'd recommend purchase if you bought the rest of the series, but certainly not if you haven't.  It's a good film overall, and worth seeing if you liked the rest of the series, or if you're a fan of Paul Walker.