Movie review | ‘Furious 7’ might leave you, well, furious

I am furious! (Not really.)

Based on the hype and the rave reviews given “Furious 7,” I expected more.

The film is the most recent installment in the “Furious” franchise, which debuted in 2001 with “Fast and the Furious.” There’s no question that the blockbuster franchise has delivered more high performance car chases, international locales, and outlandish, death-defying maneuvers per frame than any other in film history.

“Furious 7” does deliver on the spectacle, but the bombastic pace is numbing after a while, and the movie runs long at 2:20. The completely implausible plot could have been forgiven if not for the tired one-liners from tough guys Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson.

Killing machine Jason Statham plays himself and is reasonably, and typically, menacing, if not un-killable. In fact, it’s that each of the main characters should all have been killed a dozen times over by the movie’s mid-point that takes the edge off of any suspense that horror genre director James Wan (“Saw”) tried to build.

Many of the best scenes were played out in the movie’s trailer, though the last 30 minutes does deliver some fresh Los Angeles chase sequences.

Fitting tribute was given to star Paul Walker, who died tragically and ironically in an unrelated high-speed car crash during filming in 2013. Walker’s look-a-like brother doubles for him in a few scenes, though I never caught the substitutions.

Kurt Russell still has acting chops and offers a few brief high-points, but the script is so bad, it’s almost embarrassing to see him deliver the lines. UFC fighter Ronda Rousey delivers a fun sequence as a private bodyguard to an Arab prince, and cameos from actors featured in the franchise’s previous six films provide some continuity and context.

Sure, all the “Furious” movies offer a great spectacle, but this one, in particular, could have been so much more. Watching this movie is like watching a professional wrestling match; it’s fun for a minute, but then you wonder what else is on.

This story was originally published April 6, 2015 at 11:07 AM with the headline "Movie review | ‘Furious 7’ might leave you, well, furious."