A Guide to Upcoming Summer Blockbusters: Furious 7

Furious 7: Opening April 3

Full disclaimer: I have not seen a single Fast and Furious movie since the first upon it's initial release. That hasn't stopped me from wanting, and failing, to see at least the last two.

The Good: In spite of every other long running franchise, this series (again, based on general perception and reviews since I haven't endured them myself) seem to have only gotten better over time. I have caught bits and pieces of Fast 5 and Furries 6 or whatever nomenclature they went by and was impressed. One day, I'll get to the rest.

Director James Wan comes onboard to the franchise after a few mainstream horror films you may have heard of such as Saw, Insidious, or The Conjuring. At the very least, his unique style of direction should lead to good things.

Also of note, in the spirit of the series adding antagonists to later be recruited into whatever Vin Diesel and Paul Walker aim to do, both Kurt Russell and Jason Statham appear to be the big bads this time around. But I guess we'll see.

The Bad: I'm sure you all heard that Paul Walker died during the making of this film. Whether that means this will be the last of his Brian O'Conner character remains to be seen as they supported his performance with CGI and stand-ins from his brothers. Whether that works as well as it did in ... well, no other film I can think of, remains to be seen.

Also, for a series that is six sequels deep, they seem to keep coming up with ridiculous and outlandish car based stunts that defy all logic on this planet but I feel that well may run dry eventually.

All told, I'm surprised that a 'simple' movie from the director of that damn Skulls movie about an undercover cop infiltrating an illegal street racing gang has lasted this long.

The Prognostication: It will be good. It will make tons of money. The fans will love it. There will be more sequels. But if the wheels haven't already started shaking violently on this series, I wonder if Walker's untimely exit will hasten its demise. And Vin Diesel is off his rocker if he thinks this will be a Best Picture winner.