CREDIT: UNIVERSAL PICTURES
Furious 7 is the last film Paul Walker worked on before his death, and the Fast family dedicated this movie to a friend lost. "Salute mi familia."

The latest of The Fast and the Furious franchise surrounds the original crew as an angry Jason Statham (playing the super-assassin- spy Deckard Shaw) follows them around the world in a quest for vengeance. As the crew works through their own personal baggage, with a recently not dead Letty and Brian learning how to play the part of family man, they remember that they’ve become something more than friends, more than a crew – they’ve become family.

Furious 7 is a perfect addition to a well-established franchise. With a ton of well-loved familiar faces, and a couple of awesome new additions in the form of Jason Statham, Kurt Russell and Nathalie Emmanuel (who is most well-known for her role as Missandei in Game of Thrones), the movie is full of people who clearly enjoyed every moment of filming. While no one can ever deny the over-the-top sexualisation that takes place in these movies, the fact is that everyone is eye candy, regardless of age, gender and ethnicity.

What’s great about these movies, and this one in particular, is how they manage to feel so incredibly genuine and authentic while still being demonstrating and almost obscene amount of excess in everything that they do. Every car is the best of the best, every explosion is a giant fiery inferno and every person can – and does – kick some serious ass when needed. Few movies can feature cars flying out of planes to parachute onto deserted stretches of mountain highway and still have the audience nodding along thinking, “This seems like exactly what would happen.”

A word also has to be put in for the fight choreography in this movie. Watching Vin Diesel and Statham beat the crap out of each other for extended periods of time is something you never realized was missing from your life until you see it. There are also a few amazing scenes with Michelle Rodriguez, who does an incredible job in every fight scene she’s in. The audience is also treated to some truly epic car chases – it is a Fast movie, after all – and even features an unmanned drone.

The most touching part of the film was, of course, the ending tribute to Paul Walker. It’s clear Vin Diesel was speaking from the heart about his long-time friend, and the flashbacks to the previous movies remind the audience of the almost 15 years that Walker dedicated to capturing our imagination.

These are movies that have defined an entire genre, and have entrenched themselves in our culture. The number of people who had to come together to make this movie happen after his death is incredible and a testament to how loved he was.

Overall, this is a ridiculous, epic, authentic and somewhat insane addition to the Fast & Furious franchise. If you’re looking for sexy humans, sexy cars, fights and explosions, then this is the movie you’ve been waiting for. The gritty and the glamorous combine in Furious 7, with amazing results.