FURIOUS 7

Vin Diesel has been known to get attached to his projects. He got so attached to "The Chronicles of Riddick" that his one-scene cameo in "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" was in exchange of ownership of the rights to the Riddick(ulous) franchise, that was already sinking following a failed sequel. The "Fast & Furious" franchise has been a much bigger part of his career, and when Paul Walker crashed into a tree in November 2013 and never woke up – halfway through production of "Furious 7", it was only expected that Diesel would do his best to honour the memory of one of his closest friends. Production was halted, the script re-written, Peter Jackson's CGI team was called in to superimpose Paul's face onto his brothers' – who agreed to step in to finish the film. Anticipation built up too; fans of the franchise waited at the edge of their seats (and in front of their computers, looking to pre-book tickets) long before it released. Thankfully, Dhaka's Star Cineplex was one of the 10,500+ theatres where the film premiered internationally, and it was well worth pushing other work commitments around to be there. 

Without giving away any spoiler (and what you don't already know from Wikipedia and IMDb), the film is possibly the best of the franchise so far, not so much in terms of the actual content, but possibly for the treatment of it. With a director responsible for films like "Saw", "Insidious" and "The Conjuring" at the helm for the first time, the film's action sequences weren't dragged (as opposed to its immediate predecessor). Jason Statham as rogue special forces assassin Deckard Shaw was the best I have seen him (surpassing "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels"). The cinematic layers beyond the smashing of metals and breakneck driving – the rekindling chemistry between Letty (a coming-back-to-her-own Michelle Rodriguez) and Dom Toretto (Diesel), Mia's (Jordana Brewster) maturing relationship dynamics with Brian (Paul Walker) and Kurt Russell's charisma as "Mr. Nobody" – take the film beyond the typical pace-and-grind-and-explosions. That is not to say there isn't a bucket-load of that though: Furious 7 provides adequate adrenaline rush, as promised in the trailer – there are cars parachuting jumps from an aircraft, and then there's that one supercar smashing through three Dubai towers. The premise to bid Paul Walker a farewell is set up right throughout, setting him up as the "bigger man", and the ending is indeed incredibly emotional. 

Strengths: Jason Statham's cold baddassery; the expected over-the-top car stunts gone a little further over the top; the action sequences, particularly the fist-fight between Rodriguez and MMA fighter Ronda Rousey, Statham getting Rock Bottomed by, well, The Rock, and the street brawl between Statham and Diesel; the background scores and soundtracks; and ultimately the ending. 
Weaknesses: Leaving Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson (as Detective Luke Hobbs) out for almost the entire movie (although he does return near the end for a typically absurd sequence), and (possibly in an effort to highlight Paul) keeping Tyrese Gibson and Ludacris on the sidelines – although Gibson's comic relief was very passable. Game of Thrones' Nathalie Emmanuel also played a tepid role, but her genius hacker character of Ramsey was set up for prospective use in future. 

All in all, it's the typical testosterone overflow that has generated billions for the franchise, but it's a little more than just that. Go in with the right expectations and you won't be dissatisfied, particularly if you've been following the franchise even moderately.