The film was written by Chris Morgan and directed by James Wan. It stars Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris and Jason Statham.
With the previous three installments being set between 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006), Furious 7 is the first film of the series to mostly take place after Tokyo Drift.
The film marks the final appearance of Paul Walker, who died on November 30, 2013, with filming only half-completed. After Walker's death, filming was delayed for script re-writes, and his brothers Caleb and Cody Walker were used as stand-ins to complete his remaining scenes. Furious 7 was released on April 3, 2015. It was released in 3D internationally.
Plot Movie Data
- Title : Fast & Furious 7
- Directed by : James Wan
- Produced by : Neal H. Moritz, Vin Diesel
- Screenplay by : Chris Morgan
- Based on : Characters by Gary Scott Thompson
- Starring : Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Kurt Russell, Jason Statham
- Music by : Brian Tyler
- Cinematography : Stephen F. Windon, Marc Spicer
- Edited by : Christian Wagner, Leigh Folsim Boyd, Dylan Highsmith, Kirk M. Morri
- Production company : Original Film, One Race Films, Relativity Media, Media Rights Capital
- Distributed by : Universal Pictures
- Release dates : March 16, 2015 (SXSW), April 3, 2015 (United States)
- Running time : 137 minutes
- Country : United States
- Language : English
- Budget : $250 million
- Box office : $67.3 million
After defeating Owen Shaw and his crew and securing their amnesties, Dominic Toretto, Brian O'Conner, and the rest of the crew are able to return to the United States and live normal lives again. Dom tries to help Letty regain her memories, while Brian begins to accustom himself to life as a father. Meanwhile, Owen's older brother, Deckard Shaw, breaks into a secure hospital the comatose Owen is being held in and swears vengeance against Dom.
Shaw breaks into Luke Hobbs' DSS office to extract profiles of Dom's crew. After revealing his identity, Shaw engages Hobbs in a fight, and escapes when he detonates a bomb that sends Hobbs and his partner, Elena Neves, flying from the building and onto the roof of a car. Hobbs, severely injured, is rushed to hospital by Elena. Meanwhile, Dom learns from his sister Mia that she is pregnant again and convinces her to tell Brian about it, despite her objections.
However, a bomb, disguised in a package sent from Tokyo, explodes and destroys the Toretto house just seconds after Han, one of their crew, is killed by Shaw in Tokyo. Dom later visits Hobbs in the hospital, where he learns that Shaw is a rogue special forces assassin seeking to avenge his brother. Dom travels to Tokyo to claim Han's body, where he meets Sean Boswell, a friend of Han's, who gives him personal items found at Han's crash, among them a cross necklace that Dom had attempted to find for Letty.
Back at Han's funeral in Los Angeles, Dom sees a car observing and chases after the vehicle, driven by Shaw. After a head-on collision in a game of chicken, both prepare to fight but Shaw slips away when a covert ops team arrives, led by Frank Petty. Petty informs Dom that he will assist him in stopping Shaw if he helps him prevent a mercenary named Jakande from obtaining God's Eye, a computer program that can use digital devices to track a specific person, and save its creator, a hacker named Ramsey, from Jakande's men. Dom recruits Brian, Roman, Tej, and Letty to help him.
However, Brian makes a promise to Mia that after Shaw is dealt with, he will dedicate himself to raising their son full-time. To rescue Ramsey, the team airdrops their cars over the Caucasus Mountains, ambush Jakande's convoy and rescues Ramsey, finding out that she is a young woman. They then head to Abu Dahbi, where a billionaire has acquired the flash drive containing God's Eye. The team breaks into his penthouse and manages to steal the flash drive. On both occasions, the team is pursued by Shaw, who engages in combat with Dom, and the team barely manages to escape.
With God's Eye, the team manages to track down Shaw, who is waiting at a remote factory. Dom, Brian, Petty and his covert ops unit attempt to capture Shaw but are ambushed by Jakande and his militants, who have allied with Deckard. In the ensuing battle, Petty's men are killed and Petty is injured, though he manages to escape with Toretto and Brian while Jakande obtains God's Eye from one of Petty's men. Petty warns Dom and Brian that Jakande will use God's Eye to hunt Ramsey down, and they drive off, leaving Petty behind to be evacuated by helicopter. Left with no other choice, the team decides to return to Los Angeles to fight Shaw, Jakande and his men on their home turf. Dom plans to confront Shaw alone while Brian and the rest of the crew prepare to deal with Jakande. Earlier, Mia had revealed to Brian that she was pregnant with their second child, a girl.
While Jakande pursues Brian and the rest of the crew with a stealth attack helicopter and unmanned aerial vehicle, using God's Eye to track down Ramsey, the team uses Ramsey to hack into God's Eye while keeping her mobile in a series of vehicles. Hobbs, seeing the team in trouble, escapes the hospital and destroys the UAV by ramming it with an ambulance. Ramsey successfully completes the hack, regaining control of God's Eye, and shuts it down. Meanwhile, Dom and Shaw engage in a one-on-one brawl on a parking garage, before Jakande intervenes and attacks them both, and Shaw is apprehended when part of the parking garage collapses on him.
Dom then engages in battle with Jakande and launches his vehicle at his helicopter, narrowly missing, but successfully manages to toss a bag of grenades on board, before getting himself injured when his car lands and crashes. Hobbs then shoots the bag of grenades from ground level, destroying the helicopter and killing Jakande. When Dom doesn't regain consciousness, the team fears that he is dead. Letty cradles Toretto's body and reveals that she has regained her memories, and that she remembers their marriage ceremony, which happened unbeknownst to the rest of the crew. Dom regains consciousness soon after, remarking, "It's about time".
In the aftermath, Shaw is taken into custody by Hobbs and locked away in a secret, high-protection CIA prison. Meanwhile, at a beach, Brian and Mia play with their son while Dom, Letty, Roman and Tej observe, appreciating their happiness and acknowledging that Brian is better off retired with his family. Dom silently leaves, and Brian catches up to him at a stop sign. As Dom remembers the times he's had with Brian, they bid each other farewell and drive off in separate directions. A final title card reads, "For Paul".
Cast
- Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto
- Paul Walker as Brian O'Conner
- Dwayne Johnson as Luke Hobbs
- Michelle Rodriguez as Letty Ortiz
- Tyrese Gibson as Roman Pearce
- Chris Bridges as Tej Parker
- Jordana Brewster as Mia Toretto
- Kurt Russell as Frank Petty
- Jason Statham as Deckard Shaw
- Nathalie Emmanuel as Megan Ramsey
- Djimon Hounsou as Mose Jakande
- Tony Jaa as Kiet
- Ronda Rousey as Kara
- John Brotherton as Sheppard
- Ali Fazal as Safar
- Elsa Pataky as Elena Neves
Production / Development
On April 4, 2013, Justin Lin, the franchise's director since The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006), announced that he would not return to direct a seventh film, as the studio wanted to produce the film on an accelerated schedule for release in summer 2014. This would have required Lin to begin pre-production on the sequel while performing post-production on Fast & Furious 6, which he considered would affect the quality of the final product. Despite the usual two-to-three-year gap between the previous installments,
Universal chose to pursue a sequel quicker due to having fewer reliable franchises than its competitor studios. However, subsequent interviews with Lin have suggested that the sixth installment was always intended to be the final entry directed by him. In April 2013, James Wan, predominantly known for horror films, was announced as the sequel's director, with Neal H. Moritz returning to produce and Chris Morgan returning to write the script, his fifth in the series. On April 16, 2013, Vin Diesel announced that the sequel would be released on July 11, 2014. In May 2013, Diesel said that the sequel would feature Los Angeles, Tokyo and the Middle East as locations.
Casting
Diesel and Paul Walker were the first confirmed to return. Dwayne Johnson initially said that if Universal pursued the accelerated development of a seventh film with a summer start date, he would be unable to participate due to scheduling conflicts with filming on Hercules. However, as production for the film commenced in September, he confirmed his return for the film, as Hercules completed production in time for him to film a significant part. In August 2013, Kurt Russell was confirmed to be in talks to join the film.
Diesel confirmed his involvement through a production photo on his Facebook page, in September 2013. In August 2013, mixed martial artist Ronda Rousey was confirmed to be in negotiations to join the cast, and Thai martial arts actor Tony Jaa was also confirmed to have joined the cast, making his Hollywood debut. In the same month, it was reported that Denzel Washington had turned down a role in the film, and that Universal was looking for another big star to take the part, which would play a larger role in an eighth film. It was also confirmed that Lucas Black had signed on to reprise his role as Sean Boswell for Furious 7, and two more installments.
Filming
Principal photography began in early September 2013 in Atlanta, Georgia, with a casting call issued. Abu Dhabi was also a filming location, as the production crew chose it over Dubai; they benefitted from the Emirate's 30% rebate scheme. Pikes Peak Highway in Colorado was closed in September to film some driving sequences. The "air drop" scene was headed by stuntman, Spiro Razatos, who supervised on Fast Five and Fast & Furious 6. Razatos told Business Insider that he wanted to rely more on real stunts than CGI because he wanted the whole sequence to "feel real" and satisfy audience's expectations. The stunt took months of prep-solving problems. Cameras needed to be mounted onto cars in a way that they would not be destroyed when the cars landed, and the crew had to figure out a safe way to get the cars out of the plane.
They performed a dry run with a single car falling out of a plane. But some on the film were not impressed by the raw footage. During the final take, shooting took place in Colorado with two airplanes, flying at 12,000 feet, dropping two cars apiece. Over 10 cameras were used for the sequence. In addition to cameras on the ground, there were cameras remotely operated inside the plane and another three mounted outside each car. Additional cameras were on a helicopter, where Razatos was stationed watching monitors. Three skydivers used in the shoot wore helmet cameras. Sky divers would either jump out before cars or after them. Razatos admits that the "air drop" sequence would be "hard to top."
On November 30, 2013, while on a break for the Thanksgiving holiday, Walker, who portrayed Brian O'Conner, died in a single-vehicle accident. The next day, Universal announced that production would continue after a delay that would allow the filmmakers to rework the film. On December 4, 2013, Universal Pictures put production on hold indefinitely. Wan later confirmed that the film had not been cancelled. On December 22, 2013, Diesel posted on his Facebook page that the film would be released on April 10, 2015. On February 27, 2014, The Hollywood Reporter reported that filming would resume on April 1, and that the cast and crew had headed to Atlanta to prepare for about eight more weeks of shooting. Principal photography ended on July 10, 2014.
Redevelopment of Walker's character
On January 6, 2014, it was reported that Walker's character would be retired instead of killed, and that new scenes would be developed to retire his character, allowing the franchise to continue. On March 21, 2014, the New York Daily News reported that the studio had hired four actors with bodies very similar to Walker's physique, and that CGI would be used for his face and voice. On April 15, 2014, it was announced that Walker's brothers, Caleb and Cody, would be used as stand-ins.
Music
The musical score was composed by Brian Tyler, who scored the third, fourth, and fifth installments of the series. "There's an emotional component to Fast & Furious 7 that is unique," said Tyler about his experience scoring. "I think people are really going to be amazed by it." A soundtrack album to the film was released by Atlantic Records on March 17, 2015. Songs featured in the film include:
- "Go Hard or Go Home" (Wiz Khalifa & Iggy Azalea)
- "Ride Out" (Kid Ink, Tyga, Wale, YG & Rich Homie Quan)
- "My Angel" (Prince Royce)
- "Get Low" (Dillon Francis and DJ Snake song)
The film, which began principal photography in September 2013, was originally designed as a Summer 2014 release. It was put on hold following the fatal car crash that claimed Paul Walker's life on November 30, 2013. The production resumed in April 2014. In October 2014, Universal revealed that the film was officially titled Furious 7, and that the debut trailer would be released during an interactive fan event over social media. In the days leading up to the event, seven-second, behind-the-scenes videos were released, titled "7 Seconds of 7". On February 1, 2015, a new trailer featuring all-new footage debuted during Super Bowl XLIX.
The film was originally scheduled for release on April 10, 2015, but it was announced that the film's release date had been brought forward a week to April 3, 2015. The official announcement in change of date was made in July 2014. Fast and Furious 7 premiered at the SXSW Film Festival at 12:07 a.m. at Austin's Paramount Theatre on March 16, 2015. It is scheduled to release in China on April 12, 2015. On March 27, 2015, a free standalone expansion for the video game Forza Horizon 2, titled Forza Horizon 2 Presents Fast & Furious, was released to help promote the film.
Reception
Box office Worldwide, Furious 7 was released across 810 IMAX theaters – the largest worldwide rollout for any movie in IMAX's history and the largest for Universal. The film, according to RelishMix, surpassed The Hunger Games to become the most social movie franchise in the history of social media.
Predictions for the opening weekend of Furious 7 in North America were continuously revised upwards, starting from $115 million to $140 million. It opened on Friday, April 3, 2015, across 4,004 theaters, including 365 IMAX theaters, which made it Universal's widest opening release ever (breaking Despicable Me 2 's record). It earned $15.8 million from Thursday late-night shows (which began at 7 p.m.) from 3,069 theaters, marking Universal's highest late-night run (breaking Fifty Shades of Grey 's record), of which $2.2 million came from IMAX showings, marking the third largest IMAX preview gross ever, (behind Iron Man 3 and The Dark Knight Rises). After the film exceeded expectations and grossed $67.3 million on Friday, opening weekend predictions were increased from $115 million to upwards of $168 million.
It opened Wednesday, April 1, 2015, in 12 countries, earning $16.9 million (including previews from 22 countries). It opened in 33 more countries on Thursday, April 2, for a total of 45 countries, earning $43 million, marking Universal Pictures overseas' highest-grossing Thursday ever (breaking Fast & Furious 6 's record), and for a two day total of $60 million. The film set all time opening-day records in 15 countries including Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, India, Indonesia, the Middle East and Thailand (breaking The Avengers ' record), and opening day records for Universal Pictures in 25 countries including Australia, Brazil, Germany, Italy and Mexico.
Critical response
Furious 7 has received positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a rating of 81%, based on 158 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10. The site's consensus reads, "Serving up a fresh round of over-the-top thrills while adding unexpected dramatic heft, Furious 7 keeps the franchise moving in more ways than one." On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating, the film has a score of 67 out of 100, based on 43 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
The film received highly positive reviews upon release at a secret screening at the 2015 SXSW Film Festival on March 16, 2015. Ramin Setoodeh of Variety noted that fans started lining up outside four hours before the film was scheduled to start. The film closed with a touching tribute to Walker, which left many in the theater "holding back tears". John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter criticized the film as "stupidly diverting", saying the running time was "overinflated"; he compared watching the film to a morbid game, in addition to criticizing the screenplay.
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Source : wikipedia
