Furious 7 2015

Wesley Morris, Grantland: Who would have thought that a series addicted to the high of movement could also summon a solemnity that leaves you moved? Read more

Sara Stewart, New York Post: Car racing, vengeance, logic-defying stunts and stuff blowing up. Too much stuff blowing up, really. We came for the cars and their reckless, gorgeous drivers; we can get explosions anywhere. Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: It's an enormous, steroidal blast, and as much ingenious fun as a blockbuster can be. Read more

Scott Foundas, Variety: The hit muscle-car franchise does itself and the late Paul Walker proud with a solid seventh entry. Read more

Jesse Hassenger, AV Club: The series will doubtless continue on with Diesel, Rodriguez, Johnson, and the rest, but in the meantime, Furious 7 comes to the most conclusive and emotionally satisfying ending since, fittingly, the very first film. Read more

Randy Cordova, Arizona Republic: Big and numbingly loud, "Furious 7" jets around the globe so we can watch cars crash, explode and repeatedly defy gravity. If that sounds like a great way to spend two hours and 17 minutes, read no more. Read more

Tom Russo, Boston Globe: The movie doesn't hold together as well as the previous chapter, but that's really a function of expanding the cast still further. Read more

Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader: The story takes place in LA, Abu Dhabi, Tokyo, and the Caucasus Mountains, yet Wan has so few ideas about how to choreograph and edit action that the elaborate stunt sequences all feel exactly the same. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: "Furious 7" is not as zippy as "Fast Five," my favorite of the ones I've seen, but it has its satisfactions; its global audience is built-in, as well as strapped in and ready to ride. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: The only grace note in this otherwise determinedly graceless movie is the classy way Walker's exit is handled. To say more is to say too much. Read more

Adam Graham, Detroit News: The real stars of these films are the bonkers action setpieces, and "Furious 7" achieves new high points in that department. Read more

Cary Darling, Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com: James Wan came up in the horror ranks and gave the world the first Saw... If "F&F" fans feared that he would tamper with the box-office formula and end up slaying and gutting this cinematic golden goose for shocks and giggles, they can rest easy. Read more

Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly: At this rate, the next chapter will have to take place in outer space. Fast & Furious: Venusian Drift. Read more

John DeFore, Hollywood Reporter: Stupendously stupid and stupidly diverting. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: "Furious 7" is the fuel-injected fusion of all that is and ever has been good in "The Fast and the Furious" saga that began in 2001 with souped-up cars and a stripped-down story about a tightknit East L.A. street racing crew. Read more

Tony Hicks, San Jose Mercury News: It is, perhaps, the ultimate proof that a ridiculous movie and a good movie aren't mutually exclusive. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: In Furious 7, the unstoppable Fast and the Furious franchise sputters and stalls, edging from spectacular, tongue-in-cheek B-movie fun to soulless, insulting inanity. Read more

Elaine Teng, The New Republic: For a franchise known for cheesy, heavy-handed lines, Furious 7 served up a classy, heartbreaking send-off for its departed star, one that acknowledged the tragedy of real life without allowing it to overwhelm the fictional world. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: A slim excuse, and a perfectly good one, for trotting around the globe, blowing up drones in Los Angeles and sending Lebanese sports cars crashing through Abu Dhabi skyscrapers. Read more

Richard Brody, New Yorker: The director, James Wan, sends cars repeatedly airborne and seems himself to marvel at the results; the movie's real subject is the stunt work, but its stars' authentic chemistry lends melody to its relentless beat. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: It's the kind of movie in which the endlessly antagonistic villain and hero express their boiling hatred by driving head-on into each other's rides. At high speed. Twice. Read more

Mark Jenkins, NPR: As zippy, playful and amiably preposterous as the best of the previous models. Read more

Jacob Hall, New York Daily News: "Furious 7" is the biggest, silliest movie in the "Fast and Furious" franchise, officially transforming the series into "The Avengers" with muscle cars. But what's wrong with big and silly? Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: There will no doubt be better movies released in 2015, but "Furious 7" is an early favorite to win the prize for most picture. Read more

Molly Eichel, Philadelphia Inquirer: It's all dumb, but it's wonderfully, comfortably dumb in just the right way. Read more

Sandy Cohen, Associated Press: Fast-moving fight scenes, outrageous auto antics and a sprinkling of ridiculous one-liners make Furious 7 a campy, crowd-pleasing escape. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Furious Seven provides what viewers have come to expect from the long-running The Fast and the Furious series: a string of high-octane, physics-defying action scenes loosely connected by a narrative that occasionally makes rudimentary sense. Read more

Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times: "Furious 7" could have come across as ghoulish, but it's not until the very end that we're reminded of Walker's fate, and the filmmakers handle it with taste and respect. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: This one sticks with you. Forget the plot bumps, muscle acting, and tweet-length dialogue. Finishing the film in Paul Walker's honor clearly brought out the best in everyone. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Delivers the goods, and then some. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Here and there, we get the imaginative and outrageous stunts this series is famous for, but mostly the movie plods along, muscling through without much life or spirit. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Some things succeed without being an outstanding achievement. Larry the Cable Guy, Justin Bieber, Spam. To that cavalcade, let us add the likable, repetitive, chaotic "Furious Seven." Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: The grunted catch-phrases, the implausible escapes, the plot holes the size of the Bonneville Salt Flats - it's all pitched at a particular audience like a dog whistle that fully grown humans can't hear. Read more

John Semley, Globe and Mail: It's all entertaining enough, I suppose. But there's a twisted coldness under the action that's anxiously concealed by the characters' refrains of the importance of "family" and sticking together and other ostensibly nice stuff. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: A remarkably satisfying and entertaining action movie, one of the best in the series. Put your brain in neutral and enjoy the ride. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: Ranks a very successful fourth place overall, with at least one gargantuan set piece that ranks among the series' finest. Read more

Tom Huddleston, Time Out: The face-to-face punch-ups are a lot of fun. The Statham-Johnson smackdown resembles nothing more than two shaved pitbulls in a tumble dryer. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Furious 7 offers edge-of-the-seat excitement with outlandish action sequences, inventive stunts, hilarious cartoonish moments and even some touching emotion. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Village Voice: The good news is that Furious 7 offers more - and more, and yet more - of the same. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: Furious 7 kicks the biggest and hardest, but it's far from the best. Read more

Jen Chaney, Washington Post: "Furious 7" buzzes with a frenetic energy so contagious, there's no sense in resisting it. Like its predecessors, this film has no shame about being its high-octane, gloriously ridiculous self. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: The film follows an exceedingly well-traveled road, though the formula-a crew of racer-adventurers who put dual premiums on speed and family values-has been spiked with ever more spectacular, or preposterous, effects. Read more