What Everyone Expected: Frankly, an utter disaster. Paul Walker's tragic and untimely death in November 2013 mid-production completely threw the project into disarray, such that the plot had to be reconfigured to incorporate the "retirement" of his Brian O'Conner character. Nobody would've been surprised or probably that mad if the final result had been an incoherent mess, because what are you supposed to do when one of your main stars dies? What It Was: Somehow, quite probably the best film in the series. The action is the most insane it's ever been, the outrageous one-liners are cranked up to 11, and simply, it continues to emphasise and further build on the feeling of brotherhood that made the last few movies in particular so appealing. In addition to all this and a thoroughly enjoyable Jason Statham villain performance, the film does a stand-up job filling in Walker's absence, and eventually writes him out with a deeply affecting, fourth wall-breaking tribute which, in honesty, could've been a fantastic way to just end the series completely. It probably won't get any better than this, all from a filmmaker (James Wan) who's never directed a project of this size before. It's nothing short of a miracle that Furious 7 worked at all.
Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes).
General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.
