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Fast & Furious 7

5/10

Stars: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jason Statham, Kurt Russell, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges, Nathalie Emmanuel, Elsa Pataky, Gal Gadot, Tony Jaa, Djimon Hounsou, Ronda Rousey

Director: James Wan

There's lots of action in this, possibly the last film in the now-famous franchise, following Walker's untimely death, but by cracky it's long. Even the final street fight between Diesel and Statham (not happy as the villain) is chopped up into about six parts.

And the disregard for life is horrendous. It's all very well for dozens of bad guys to bite the dust but, before they do, they fell an entire skyscraper, presumably containing hundreds of people.

The action moves from Azerbaijan back to LA with Dubai in between, as Deckard Shaw (Statham), out for revenge for the death of his brother, knocks off Han (Sung Kang) for starters.

Needless to day, Dom (Diesel) and Brian (Walker), the latter now mired in domesticity with Mia (Brewster), escape a subsequent attempt by a hairsbreadth, and the second half of the plot kicks in, as a government 'Mr Nobody' (a feisty Russell) hires Dom and his old high-speed gang to recover a master hacker (Hollyoaks' and Game of Thrones's Emmanuel in a rather undistinguished start to a film career) and a device called God's Eye. which can track anyone, anywhere, in a matter of seconds.

'Just promise me,' says Brewster to Walker, just before the house in blown to shreds behind her, 'after this job, we're done!'

Walker's role was only half filmed before his death last year in a car crash but, with the help of doubles and digital magic, he seems to play a full part in the adventure that follows, as cars zoom between tower blocks and over cliffs, The action, however, doesn't make the adrenalin flow as it did in episodes five and six especially, the movie gets incorrigibly sentimental at the fadeout and, although Statham threatens to come back from deep-security prison at the end, it's to be hoped that the producers might now call it a day.

David Quinlan

USA 2015. UK Distributor: Universal. Colour by deluxe.
137 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 12A.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 1, Drugs 0, Swearing 0.

Review date: 30 Mar 2015