The word 'family' is rather prominent in this new, Korean trailer for The Fast and Furious 7, and you'll hear 'brother' too. As much as this film is about expensive cars smashing things up, it also takes a stake in the eye-for-an-eye revenge of a "We take care of our own" action picture. Or, to put it another way, it seems pretty much of a piece with Fast and Furious 6, and 5... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtQKLJ_gpCA An audience at Austin's SXSW festival got to see Fast and Furious 7 last night and the general reception seems to be that it was ludicrous and ridiculous. That's not meant as a criticism, mind you - everybody has been saying this film was overblown and preposterous and that's why they loved it. I don't mind over the top, not at all, but it's not enough for me to give a hoot. I want my over the top to come with some invention, imagination and flair. Hopefully James Wan, directing his first film in this series, has done more than just put his pedal to the metal, and managed to keep things on the straight and narrow too. It certainly does look like the engine is in the red zone all the way, with absolutely nothing on screen that can't be punched, blown up or crashed into, including all of the main characters. Of course, the female characters will only punch, blow up or crash into one another, by the looks of things, but at least they're not sitting in rocking chairs, knitting and waiting for the guys to come home. Fast and Furious 7 opens on April 3rd. I think it's going to be huge.e
Brendon Connelly has been a film writer since the early 90s, with time on the staff of Orbit Magazine, Slashfilm, Bleeding Cool, Den of Geek and many more. He's a long time teacher of film studies and practical filmmaking classes, and has directed music videos, commercials, short films and more. His favourite film is Terry Gilliam's Brazil, his favourite food is pancakes or crepes, and he tries to live his life by the teachings of Kermit the Frog.
