Furious 7 rides 'like a turbo-boosted telenovela,' says CBC film critic

Furious 7 roars into theatres this weekend on a wave of anticipation and record-breaking pre-sale tickets.

Vin Diesel is back in action as Dominic Toretto. This time, he's leading his gang of fugitive street racers—including stars Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez and Chris "Ludacris" Bridges—on a mission of revenge to catch another bald bad guy, played by British action star Jason Statham.

But first, the gang accepts a government mission, from a mysterious Mr. Nobody (played by Tango & Cash's Kurt Russell), who hires them to rescue a hacker held hostage by warlords. 

"With so many subplots, hidden marriages, secret pregnancies, secret agents and amnesia patients, Furious 7 feels at times like a turbo boosted telenovela," says CBC film critic Eli Glasner referring to popular Latin American soap operas.  

"And this amped-up story of family and friends," Glasner says, "is constantly hitting us over the head with its themes."

Walker's 'fitting send-off'

Like the Fast and Furious movies of the past, the movie delivers all the high-octane car chases, crashes and stunts fans have come to expect.

But director James Wan shows restraint in the way he handled the death of Paul Walker, who played FBI agent Brian O'Connor in the series.

• Vin Diesel names baby after Paul Walker

The actor's tragic death in a 2013 car crash briefly shut down production of the movie.

Shooting eventually resumed with Walker's brothers acting as stand-ins and with "a little computer graphics magic," says Glasner, "Walker bows out with a fitting send off."

Furious 7 goes into wide release on Friday.

Watch Eli's full review in the video above.