Furious 7 Review: 15 Reasons It's The Best In The Series

12. James Wan Lives Up To Justin Lin's Work On The Previous Movies

One of the biggest worries about Furious 7's release was that director Justin Lin, who helmed the previous four movies in the series and was largely credited with the creative turnaround which turned the franchise into box office dynamite, wasn't returning for part seven. Instead, Saw and The Conjuring director James Wan took the helm, despite having very little experience in the action genre and even less dealing with budgets this high (he's never made a movie that cost over $20 million before, while Furious 7 cost roughly $250 million). Thankfully, Wan has for the most part done a splendid job living up to Lin's legacy, for while his coverage doesn't seem quite as smooth and assured, he captures the manic mayhem of the action with stylistic consistency and even some balletic grace from time to time. Needless to say, Universal will likely be dumping a truckload of cash on his lawn in the hope of luring him back for Furious 8, and from the evidence here, he's probably the best Justin Lin substitute the studio could ask for.