EPISODE 118 - Furious 7: LIVE

[RyanSz 3140]

My initial issues with this movie still stand in that I felt the villains were sort of dialed back because there were two of them when either would have been a perfect villain on their own. I also felt that Paul Walker's character should have died so that it could have brought the characters even closer together towards getting Statham. By leaving the character alive it leaves loose ends where Brian who we've been told is addicted to the live of crime and action from the last 6 movies he was in, can now just up end leave it especially with all the "familia" crap that they mention as much as the God's Eye. Also I find it hilarious that they put almost the entire last minute of the movie in the trailers for this and now that Diesel said that the next movie is going to be "from Paul" it seems like the studio is going to really try and squeeze as much out of this unfortunate situation as possible. And I know I'm in the minority on this but I can easily do without Tyrese in these movies as he brings nothing to this team.

[Thedge 314]

when this movie came out i have to admit i sniggered abit when vin diesel said it would win the best picture oscar. http://www.forbes.co...-at-the-oscars/

 

however, that was before i saw it. i dont mean its going to win the best picture oscar, and im probably making an arse out of myself here, but i do think its going to get nominated for the best original song.

 

i know not everyone likes wiz khalifa's "see you again" but unless theres a musical coming out over the next few months i think it will get a nod. it fit perfectly with what i thought was a perfectly judged exit for paul walkers character.

 

i went to see this with my dad and at the end we both just kinda just gave each other a nod of approval.... it was the most emotional i have seen him in years

 

The song combined with the visual image of Toretto and Brians cars taking different forks in the road and Brians car driving into the sunset was what sold it.

[Cameron H. 23786]

 

So it's up to me now.

 

 

Don't you see? It has always been up to you. It is only now that you can see that for yourself.

 

 

Your training is now complete.

[Thedge 314]

After recasting "The Island of Dr. Moreau," I feel like I should cast the rest of the Shaw family too.

 

I'm thinking Helen Mirren and Malcolm McDowell as Ma and Pa Shaw. They can be the sort of matriarch and patriarch of this crime family, all the while moonlighting as these Cambridge-educated pillars of the community (sort of like Gus Fring in "Breaking Bad). Meanwhile, as far as younger ass-kicking British women, we can only really go with the very ass-kicking leading lady of "Edge of Tomorrow," Emily Blunt as Maggie Shaw, avenging sister of Owen and Deckard. Or, if she's unavailable, we can always poach Rebecca Ferguson from any future "Mission Impossible" films, because God knows she should be in basically everything from now on.

 

What about Liam Neeson as the patriarch of the Shaws? I'd love for them to do a little hat-tip to the original fast car movie, The Italian Job and cast Michael Caine, but he's getting on in years and so I doubt he'd be up for it unfortunately.

 

I also think Keanu Reeves needs to be added to the Furious franchise somehow. For a multitude of reasons, but mostly because he can fight, he's an established action movie veteran and box-office draw, he's multi-racial and that fits with the rest of the casting and he's crushing it lately.

[IMAHUGEHDTGMFAN 1837]

Tego "Leo" and Rico "Santos" are played by two famous latino reggaeton artists, Tego Calderon And Don Omar respectively...

 

Both of them have had different songs in 4 of the various soundtracks of the 7 movies...

 

(Used in Tokio Drift, the "Los Bandoleros" Short, FF4 & F6)

 

(Used in Tokyo Drifts Credits I Believe)

 

&

( Used in FF 4 )

 

, Danza Kuduro &

( Used in Fast Five )

 

I remember reading somewhere that they are constantly touring and they had a hard time with their schedules it seems and also as was discussed erlier Tyrese now seems to be the main comic relief character

 

*Back to my cave*

[Auden 1809]

They seriously beat the shit out of each other all while in heels.

Of course they're wearing heels. The characteristics of a good fighter are: strength, speed, agility and sexiness.

[PlanBFromOuterSpace 3138]

 

 

The Hypersport weighs around 1,400kg (3000lb). Lets not try to bother explaining how it might be remotely possible.

 

I just love that it is done so nonchalantly that we the audience should be totally buying into it no questions asked.

It's as though he saw a penny or something under the car and that just kneeling down to dig it out would have been too inconvenient.

[JeddJong 50]

This is all conjecture, but perhaps Jason Statham's addition as a member of the Fast and Furious cast was destiny. There is a rumour that the screenplay for Fast Five was repurposed from the screenplay for The Brazilian Job, the proposed sequel to the remake of the Italian Job. The 2003 version of the Italian Job had Jason Statham as Handsome Rob.

 

And because Djimon Hounsou is in this, we get Korath the Pursuer vs. Groot.

[Cam Bert 8145]

And I'm also drinking better beer than Corona, which tastes like shit at any temperature.

Wait a certain way you hold your beer can seem homo-erotic??? Also this all depends on the kind of beer you're drinking. If it's Corona everyone wants to drink that in 5 minutes or less because it's shit.

The amount of hate I have for Corona is the exact inverse as the amount of love of have for you two right now.

Corona and beer should never be used in the same sentence.

[souprman 10477]

How dare you yell at my homegirl Alana 'Zouks!

[JonWithrow 10]

Vin Diesel got screwed when they were picking their cars for Abu Dhabi

Mclaren 650S- $265,500

Dodge Viper- $89,995

Ferrari 458- $239,000

Bugatti Veyron- $1,500,000

2015 Dodge Charger- $27,995

 

That's not even the hellcat. That's a very reasonably priced car.

[Sievers 233]

Vin Diesel got screwed when they were picking their cars for Abu Dhabi

Mclaren 650S- $265,500

Dodge Viper- $89,995

Ferrari 458- $239,000

Bugatti Veyron- $1,500,000

2015 Dodge Charger- $27,995

 

That's not even the hellcat. That's a very reasonably priced car.

 

Vin Diesel didn't get screwed. He was just prepared in case he got into a spontaneous game of car chicken while in Abu Dhabi since most of the super/hypercars they'd come across don't have their engines in the front.

[Vegas820 17]

Did anyone else see Kurt Russels character WINK at Vin Diesels during his death scene. What the fuck was that all about?

 

He was winking because he's wearing body armor. He didn't die either, they leave him on the side of the road to be picked up by a helicopter. A helicopter you not only hear coming, but Dom turns to look at over his shoulder(we see it too). He mentioned he had SOCOM medics coming to pick him up when they were in the car.

[Cam Bert 8145]

So I'll just to warn you all that this post will be long so feel free to skip past it or just skim through it.

 

So if you recall from the minisode thread, I had never seen a Fast and Furious movie. This was the first that I watched from beginning to end and I have to admit it was fun. Stupid, but fun. I mean stupid in the best possible why. Think of Jimmy Pardo calling people idiot, that's my reaction to this movie. Yes nothing makes sense, so it is kinda silly to nitpick certain things. For example, no one who made this movies seems to know how explosions work. It's fine to point that out but who cares it's fun. However, I got stuck on the dialogue of the film. Every line comes off as very written, and nothing seems natural. It is a serious of catch phrases and one liners and things that are suppose to be deep and sound good in a sound bite but make no real sense outside of it. Everything is so serious that I think the writers actually believe what they were writing. If that is the case Dom's speeches and talks on family and what it means take a whole new turn. It makes Dom seem like he was some kind of cult leader and his family were his followers. This idea sank deeper and deeper into my head so I decided to do some research. You could argue that Dom and his family are a gang, and the line between gang and cult is rather thin. According to one paper "The primary difference between cults and gangs is that cults have as their axial principle of organization some spiritual/religious/ideological belief system; gangs, on the other hand, are commonly perceived to have no such well-developed belief system."

 

Now this is maybe where you guys can fill me in. My knowledge of this franchise is based on Furious 7, some YouTube videos, and what I've heard in this podcast. As far as I can tell none of "The Family"'s actions are motivated for their own profit. It seems to be issues personal issues or wanting to stay together. Their higher power is Dom and the concept of family. They will do whatever it takes to preserve that and protect it. Combine that with the have cross imagery and Dom's somewhat supernatural powers, I'm pretty sure this a cult you guys. I found a fifteen point check list for the criteria of a cult, and based solely on this movie alone they check off ten of the fifteen. Some of these points are:

• The group displays excessively zealous and unquestioning commitment to its leader and (whether he is alive or dead) regards his belief system, ideology, and practices as the Truth, as law.
  
• The group has a polarized us-versus-them mentality, which may cause conflict with the wider society.
  
• The leader is not accountable to any authorities (unlike, for example, teachers, military commanders or ministers, priests, monks, and rabbis of mainstream religious denominations).
  
• ‪ The group teaches or implies that its supposedly exalted ends justify whatever means it deems necessary. This may result in members' participating in behaviors or activities they would have considered reprehensible or unethical before joining the group (for example, lying to family or friends, or collecting money for bogus charities).
  
• ‪ Members are expected to devote inordinate amounts of time to the group and group-related activities.
  
• ‪ Members are encouraged or required to live and/or socialize only with other group members.
  
• ‪ The most loyal members (the “true believers”) feel there can be no life outside the context of the group. They believe there is no other way to be, and often fear reprisals to themselves or others if they leave (or even consider leaving) the group.
  

The last point seems ify given the ending of the film but if not for the unfortunate passing of Paul Walker he wouldn't have left. By all accounts he was ready and willing for Furious Eight, so in a sense nobody ever leaves the family. Each film from what I can tell the family is getting bigger and bigger, recruiting new members to it. Eventually his "Family" will be so big they'll have to move to a compound down in South America. Why this also strikes me as odd, as that a lot of the fans of the franchise do take this message to heart. It is becoming or has become a way of life to them, thus making this seem even more cultish. Years from now on census papers "family" will be considered a religion much in the way Jedi has become one in the UK.

 

Again I enjoyed the movie, and will probably go back and watch some of the older ones, I just found "The Family" to come off as vaguely creepy.

[Cam Bert 8145]

Related/unrelated side story: When I was teenager me and my friend would talk about what movie stars we thought were hot and which ones were the top five we'd want to sleep with. In the middle of one of these conversations one of my friends asked who would be the best male celebrity to hang out with. Eventually this morphed into top five guys we'd like to share a beer with. While as I've grown my taste in women has changed, my top three guys to share a beer with has not and for years that number one spot has belonged to Kurt Russell. This film not only confirmed that all these years later that I made a good choice but that it would a nice Belgium ale.

[FisterRoboto 7499]

Those are some pretty excellent points, Cam Bert. One thing to note from the rest of the franchise is that in the first movie, it really is more of a "family"-type atmosphere. Dom is definitely still the leader/father figure of the family, but the family consists of Dom, Mia, Letty, and a crew of street racers that they grew up with. Their activities are MUCH smaller in scale, and it really does seem like just a group of friends that grew up in the same neighborhood and are extremely close.

 

By the fifth movie, thought, they just started letting anyone into the family, and most of the original other members have disappeared or are dead by Furious 7. Strangely enough, they don't hit the "family" thing as hard in the first movie when it actually feels like a family.

[FisterRoboto 7499]

Related/unrelated side story: When I was teenager me and my friend would talk about what movie stars we thought were hot and which ones were the top five we'd want to sleep with. In the middle of one of these conversations one of my friends asked who would be the best male celebrity to hang out with. Eventually this morphed into top five guys we'd like to share a beer with. While as I've grown my taste in women has changed, my top three guys to share a beer with has not and for years that number one spot has belonged to Kurt Russell. This film not only confirmed that all these years later that I made a good choice but that it would a nice Belgium ale.

Only if he lets me call him Snake and/or Jack Burton the whole time.

[Cam Bert 8145]

Only if he lets me call him Snake and/or Jack Burton the whole time.

[Cam Bert 8145]

Those are some pretty excellent points, Cam Bert. One thing to note from the rest of the franchise is that in the first movie, it really is more of a "family"-type atmosphere. Dom is definitely still the leader/father figure of the family, but the family consists of Dom, Mia, Letty, and a crew of street racers that they grew up with. Their activities are MUCH smaller in scale, and it really does seem like just a group of friends that grew up in the same neighborhood and are extremely close.

 

By the fifth movie, thought, they just started letting anyone into the family, and most of the original other members have disappeared or are dead by Furious 7. Strangely enough, they don't hit the "family" thing as hard in the first movie when it actually feels like a family.

The first movie was just Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster? That seems like a legit family. Girlfriends, sister, and friend. That makes sense. Were there others?

[FisterRoboto 7499]

The first movie was just Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster? That seems like a legit family. Girlfriends, sister, and friend. That makes sense. Were there others?

There was also Vince, who was Dom's childhood friend. There was also a kid named Jesse, who was kind of the kid genius of the group. Paul Walker wasn't in the "family" yet, but the movie is about him trying to infiltrate the family to learn who is running a ring of street racers that were robbing trucks.

[FisterRoboto 7499]

[Cameron H. 23786]

Something that kind of bugged me during the parachute heist scene was when they are all lined up and the bad guys start firing at them. I mean, we know we don't have to worry about our heroes because they have bulletproof cars--which we know because Ludacris tells us so. But then, when they roll up beside the bus and are fired upon, we suddenly have ample cause for worry because the bad guys are using armor piercing bullets--which we know because Ludacris tells us so.

 

So...if the bad guys have access to armor piercing rounds, and are serious about security, why aren't all their guns loaded with armor piercing bullets?

 

I would have loved it if they went through all the trouble of parachuting in just to be immediately gunned down. Then, if any of them managed to survive, they'd realize that concocting "a plan" requires more than just blindly following the advice of a man who points randomly at a map just to win a dick measuring contest.

[Cameron H. 23786]

 

however, that was before i saw it. i dont mean its going to win the best picture oscar, and im probably making an arse out of myself here, but i do think its going to get nominated for the best original song.

 

i know not everyone likes wiz khalifa's "see you again" but unless theres a musical coming out over the next few months i think it will get a nod. it fit perfectly with what i thought was a perfectly judged exit for paul walkers character.

 

 

I actually agree with you, but if I had to pick my favorite song from the movie it would have to be this one...

 

 

I loved how well it worked with Shaw leaving the blown out hospital at the beginning.

[Sievers 233]

Just a note from the questions from the audience section of the show;

 

They were discussing Shaw Family antagonists at one point and who could play someone from this British family in Fast 8 when the Australian lady from the audience asked her question Paul was VERY quick to vilify her as a potential Shaw.

 

Do we all sound the same to you Paul?! Racist!

[FisterRoboto 7499]

I wish the last season of The League hadn't finished filming already. I think a Rafi/Dirty Randy episode where they battle in cars would be pretty amazing (even though a lot of other fans of The League don't seem to care for those episodes as much as I do).

 

I really just want to see them do the chicken part and ram vehicles into each other.