For all film fans that love analyzing films and their creative decisions, you’ve come to the right place.
This time, we will be taking a look at arguably the best installment in the franchise, Furious 7. Upon re-watching the film countless times, I think there is much more substance to this film than one meets the eye, and it’s a film I would happily recommend to any action lover.
Furious 7 is the most character-driven film in the series, which in truth was aided by the tragic death of Paul Walker, making this installment just that more significant.
The 7th film in the franchise saw a drastic change in filmmaking creativity. James Wan, who comes from a horror background gave the film a whole different look and feel to it. Right down to the cinematography, editing choices, and overall style.
Let’s explore some of these elements in this article, with a special look at the duel between Statham and Diesel. I believe that this fight scene is shot so differently from some of the scenes in the previous fast and furious films, it’s very noticeable if you are familiar with filmmaking and the fast and furious films.
Before Furious 7, we had the fight scene from Fast Five between Diesel and The Rock. It was very tough and rough, with the camera placed right into the middle of the fight scene. That scene was less about filmmaking creativity and more about knocks, punches, and the two simply bashing into each other. However, the series has seen several more installments and the series has evolved.
For a start, it’s worthing pointing out that Furious 7 is the most character-driven film out of the series. It deals with revenge, tragedy, loss and the film’s visual style reflects this, even the posters. The film has a more tame and dramatic look to it, vastly different from the previous films.
This shows that this franchise has creativity embedded in its fabric, it’s so interesting to see how a franchise evolves over time when different directors come in and give the series a different and fresh take. It definitely maintains the interest of fans, including myself.
Every Fast and Furious film is the same in terms of subject material, but you hit the jackpot when each film has a unique quality to them. Furious 7 is the one that stands out in my opinion. Let’s take a look at a few scenes that really show this idea, including the fight scene and the funeral scene at the beginning.
Let’s start off with the funeral scene, which in some weird way ties into the theme of tragedy regarding the death of Paul Walker. The crew is mourning the death of Gal Gadot.
We tend to associate bright and colorful images with the franchise, on par with the classic blockbuster feel. Yet this scene differs in color contrast to typical blockbuster releases.
With a team of 4 talented editors, including Kirk Morri who worked with James Wan on The Conjuring, the film’s tone is consistent throughout the experience. On the image above, it seems like the colorist toned down all of the green images coming from the trees and grass, and focused on the greyer parts to the frame.
The whole crew is seen wearing all black, a rare image to behold in the franchise. They have ditched the jeans and white tee’s. The color of their clothing has embedded itself into the picture.
The camera work gives us long and wide takes slow zoom-ins coming from different angles. However, the scene kicks into gear when Dom gets driving. I truly love and respect that James Wan chose to have no music at the beginning of the chase scene,
it’s really brilliant and helps us to settle into the minds of the two characters. It reminds me in some way of the chase scenes from The Place Beyond The Pines, a masterpiece from the mighty year of 2012 for cinema.
The choice of vehicles in this scene is also really important, notice that both of their vehicles aren’t that colorful, a huge contrasting point to the vehicles of the previous fast and furious films, especially 2 fast 2 Furious where pretty much every car was glistening with colors that really stood out in the frame and that film wasn’t exactly tension fueled, more of a feature-length music video with bromance. Take a look below and how these two images differ.
These two cars have a more subtle yet underlining power to them, but they also don’t draw too much attention to themselves. We get a better close-up of the vehicles when the two stop in a dark alleyway.
The film really doesn’t like color, its very evident. the film certainly owns its furious tag when the two clash right into each other. Something that I hope I will never have to do in my life.
Take notice of the way the two get out of the car, Jason Statham gets out with ease and we get a full shot of his body. Dom stumbles out of his vehicles, barely able to stand up. Already, we get the sense that Jason is in charge and powerful, adding to more vulnerability to Dom.
It’s a very subtle edit, but it adds to the power dynamic between the two very effectively. A very common theme in the franchise, where power is a consistent theme.
I love the dialogue exchange between the two, who both come from vastly different backgrounds and hold different values in life. It’s the first time Dom gets challenged in this way.
The clothing of Jason Statham is just cool and neat. The long black coat gives off a really classy edge to his character and Jason Statham can certainly act. For those who don’t believe me, watch Hummingbird and Safe as well as Furious 7.
The next scene we will be looking at is the fight scene between Statham and Diesel, it just keeps getting better and bigger. The scene carries the tradition of a more bleaker visual look to it, nearly detatching all colour.
This scene is already more aggressive then the funeral scene, its more ruthless and less forgiving. You really feel that both are similar in ability and power, which makes you unsure who is going to win. A rather compelling fight scene. The location is also very different and much more open, unlike the funeral scene.
What I also like is that Dom is the first to shoot Statham, as Statham was the first to instigate the fight scene previously. It gives Dom a nice little character arc, gaining the upper hand. However the fight scene itself, its very intense and closely matched. The two have the same set of muscles, lets be honest and both have the same weapons.
This time around, Dom has a black muscle car, which ties into the visual theme of the scene which is coloured by darkness. Notice Dom’s clothing, he ditches the summer white vest for a long sleeve white t-shirt, giving off a more serious and dramatic tone.
This scene is similar to the funeral scene but raises it a notch. This time, the two clash together with a much longer distance and run-up, with Dom raising his vehicle upwards to anticipate the hit. Dom walks out of the vehicle with ease, unlike the previous scene where he stumbled out of his car.
Also, notice the two standing by each of their vehicles. I think it’s really important that there was a shot of the two in front of their vehicles, symbolizing values that they live by and the type of their cars that show this.
The music is far different to the typical music video esque soundtrack music in these films. The music is done by Brian Tyler who has worked on previous Fast and Furious films. The soundtrack in this scene is much more epic and has a degree of orchestra in its DNA.
We get a wide shot of the two clash together with mechanical weaponry. We also get a wide shot from a distance, sweeping past the two fighting. A shot is done even above, zooming down on the two.
The scene concludes with Dom gaining the high ground and nearly finishing the Stath off, which he thought, although little did he know that he would return for the next few installments.
A powerful closing shot, but not as memorable as the last scene in the film, honoring the legacy of Paul Walker, Brian O’connor. His character will live on.
It was a beautiful and genius move showing the two drive-in different paths. You can watch the film in 4K on Amazon Prime UK.
Author Bio
Sam is a content writer. He loves all elements connected with film and writes with passion, always. You can find him on Linkedin, where you will be able to read more articles. When he is not writing, you can find him practicing football
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