The Fast and Furious series has never really appealed to me as a moviegoer. I like action, but there are better movies to watch just to see that. Racing movies aren’t as exciting to me as they should be, either. So when Furious 7 hit theatres, I wasn’t too excited. But I decided to buckle up (pun intended) and watch a few of the previous movies before checking out the newest one. And several hours of bad acting, shaky camera, and The Rock later, I sighed reluctantly and sat down to watch the newest film.

And I was… pleasantly surprised.

Furious 7 follows the main cast from the previous two films, including Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), Brian O’Conner (the late Paul Walker), and Luke Hobbs (Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson), as they return to the United States to live normal lives after the previous film. However, the evil brother of the previous film’s villain, Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) is out for revenge against the heroes for the death of his brother.

Granted, this plot certainly sounds as convoluted as the films themselves. However, as a whole, this movie is a much better experience than the previous two. Directed by James Wan, a veteran horror director behind the films The Conjuring and Insidious, Furious 7 takes a much more human and dramatic approach to the series, all while containing some of the same ridiculous action sequences that made the series so popular.

This, however, might be the biggest problem with this movie. Although I think it was a good thing, fans of the series might be a little turned off by the focus on emotion and characters as opposed to action and cars. This doesn’t hurt the movie in my eyes, but I can see how fans would think it can’t contend to the previous two.

The acting in this movie is truly excellent, something the series hasn’t seen thus far. Both Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel offer the best performances of their careers, taking characters they had played before to new heights. Another standout performance is from veteran action movie actor Jason Statham, who really seems like he had fun with this movie. His role as a villain is something new and fresh for both the actor and the film series. But the standout performance has to go to Paul Walker, who tragically passed away before all of his scenes could be filmed. At times, it is pretty obvious as to which scenes were crafted after the death of the actor, but the scenes Walker did manage to film before his passing are all excellent, as if he knew it would be his last film and gave it his all.

The action sequences in this movie outshine those in the previous films as well. Even if some fans of the series complain about the movie’s lack of focus on racing and cars, fans of action movies will enjoy the general mayhem, including the parachuting cars scene (shown in the trailer) and the fist fight between Johnson and Statham.

I’m always a sucker for a good soundtrack, and this film definitely delivers there. Veteran series composer Brian Tyler returns once again to compose the film’s score, and it is excellent. Also included in the film are a few mainstream tracks, mainly rap, that don’t appeal to me all that much, but I could see the appeal to other fans. In any case, check out the Soundtrack and Original Score on iTunes for a good listen.

Unfortunately, there are a few negatives. At times, the movie feels overstuffed with too much material in a short amount of time — even with 137 minutes to play with. Also, the performances of the secondary characters are sub-par, so watch out for a few bad one-liners here and there. But besides these little issues, I was more than impressed with this movie.

To someone not accustomed to Fast and Furious’s ridiculous action and characters, this movie may be hard to watch. But as someone who wasn’t impressed by the previous films, Furious 7 offers the thrills and emotional depth that I was looking for. I’m going to give Furious 7 out of 10 stars, along with a recommendation to anyone looking for a fun movie with some sad moments. If you want to read more about how they used CGI to finish Paul Walker’s role, you can check out the link below.

Too Fast, We’re Furious