Make no mistake about it but FURIOUS 7 could very well become the biggest opening weekend box office winner so far this year…
North American premier ticket sales for this seventh outing of the franchise are being projected at $125 million-PLUS!
That’s considerably larger than AMERICAN SNIPER and 50 SHADES OF GREY’s opening weekend numbers.
And F7 should be able to hang on to that early 2015 record for at least a month until AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON will surely blow it away on May 1st.
The movie-going public’s curiosity for this latest installment in THE FAST AND FURIOUS series, of course, lies with its co-star’s untimely death when Paul Walker died in a car crash in 2013. It halted production and moved the film’s original July 2014 release date back to April 3, 2015.
Completing the filming without its co-star was no easy task for director James Wan who not only made use of Paul Walker’s brothers Caleb and Cody as stand-ins during crucial scenes but also used cutting edge digital re-animation techniques in completing critical scenes involving the late actor.
The integration is almost seamless.
FURIOUS 7 of course continues Universal’s highly successful muscle car franchise which is traditionally low on story content and dialogue but makes up for it with its high octane exploits and action sequences.
Or as Vin Diesel puts it in the movie: “You might want to put on the helmet for this one.”
And I’m here to tell you that F7 delivers on all fronts here.
It’s 137 ueber-action minutes are guaranteed to wear you out.
“You thought this was going to be a street fight? You goddamn right it is!”
And no, I’m not going to bore you with story details, except to hint that it involves a highly sophisticated software program called “Golden Eye” able to track anyone-ANYWHERE. It plays heavily into the good guys versus bad guys equation.
The acting?
Well, let’s just say there aren’t any winning statues expected for the cast. But Game On with Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Jason Statham and Kurt Russell.
Spotted during the film’s end crawl though were “Acting Coach” credits. Touche!
As to the movie’s ending, F7 concludes with a touching tribute to its departed bro.
The fantastically-fueled free-for-all known as FURIOUS 7.
THE FAST AND FURIOUS crowd knows what to expect and and F7 revs up for them on all cylinders.
That’s why my “Fan-Score” is a B.
(Reviewed in IMAX at AMC Barrywoods Theatre)
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