#20 FAST AND FURIOUS 7

#20 FAST AND FURIOUS 7 (03/04/15)
Starring Paul Walker, Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriquez, Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Lucas Black, Ronda Rousey, Tachakorn Yeerum, Kurt Russell, Dkimon Housou, Nathalie Emmanuel and Romeo Santos.

Written by Chris Morgan and Directed by James Wan. 140 minutes long.

The story, for what it's worth, Jason Statham is Owen Shaw's big bad older brother and the world's greatest government assassin and he's somewhat peeved at what Vin, and the gang did to his baby brother in the last outing.

And that's all you need to know. The rest is a glorious, relentless romp and for nearly all its running time it's an absolute hoot! oddly the film falls flat on its face just in time for the third act and then struggles to rebuild the momentum in time for the final fight between three different factions.

It looks good, the action is relentless and silly and over all it's just a blast. it's let down by too many characters and the need to not only dispense your disbelief but to have it surgically removed.

Plus there's a fight at the climax of the film between the Stath and Disel that goes on so long it becomes utterly ridiculous and, dare I say becomes pantomime. The camera cuts away for a good 5 minutes (or so it seems) to keep track of everyone else and when it comes back they're both still slugging away with giant spanners and metal pipes, and that's before the multi-storey carpark comes crashing down on their heads. The laws of Physics aren't so much ignored and over looked as positively broken and rewritten by coked up Law Lord and after awhile what starts off funny begins to become somewhat irksome.  

Who would have thought a franchise written off at number three would only really get into its stride with #5 and then just keep on getting better.

Roll on #8!

8/10