Seventh edition is too late to discuss the intentions of a franchise. Even if you have missed a couple of instalments in between you won’t have problem following it. Yes, it is about sleek automobiles and sensuous girls where the former are always more seductive than the latter. Yes, it is about men who put family and four letter words in the same sentence. Every time they promise to go into retirement their past catches up with them. Or is it the box office collections that entices them to hit the road! Anyway Dominic (Vin Diesel) is forced to come out of retirement when his domestic bliss is shattered by a former cop Deckhard Saw (Jason Statham), whose brother was killed by Dominic and his gang in the last edition. Even the team’s friendly cop (Dwayne Johnson) is also not spared.
It is an interesting twist as a cop is after the street fighters but Wan and his team of writers fail to juice out the possibilities and literally opt for head on collision. In comes government agent Kurt Russell who offers a give and take plan to Dominic. It defies logic but that is always the first casualty in this cat and mouse game. So Dominic assembles his team (Paul Walker, Tyrese Gibson and Chris Bridges) and vehicles and land in Azerbaijan to get hold of a hacker who has a built a special device which can track anybody on earth. And we get the most stunning action sequence of the film in the Caucasian mountains.
But it turns out to be a game of diminishing returns. Wan is known for conjuring up some chilling horror stuff and in action he does manage to bring in the breathlessness that the franchise demands but the lack of clarity in action choreography makes it look artificial. He seems to have a fetish for making the cars fly and gets carried away. And after a point when the four wheelers continue to defy gravity in increasingly preposterous ways, instead of generating awe they lead to guffaws. And like Diesel does in Abu Dhabi we also start looking for brakes.
As long as Wan remains on the fast lane it is still watchable but every time Wan tries to push the emotional envelope with Lettie (Michelle Rodriguez) and Dominic, the ride loses its punch and the inanity of the exercise show up. The franchise is not about showcasing acting chops but somehow Diesel, who has given the adjective deadpan a whole new expression, has got an impression that he is playing a literary character, spoiling the fun in the process. His side kicks understand their limitations better. Our Ali Fazal turns up in a fleeting cameo and before we could breath in his presence he is ejected out of the scenery. Statham is a welcome entry as the villain but Wan hasn’t given him enough ammunition to justify his B-grade star status. Even the way the film says goodbye to Paul Walker, who lost his life in the interim, ironically in one of the high-speed car crashes similar to what the franchise celebrates, is laboured.
