Furious 7 appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.40:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. As expected, the movie came with a terrific visual presentation.
At all times, definition looked great. The film showed solid delineation, with nary a soft spot to be found.
I witnessed no shimmering or jagged edges, and edge haloes failed to appear. Of course, print flaws also didn’t occur, so this was a clean image.
In terms of colors, Furious 7 emphasized teal. Some amber and orange also appeared, but that bluish tint dominated.
While predictable, the hues seemed well-rendered. The 4K’s HDR added zest and emphasis to the tones, even if they came with a restricted palette.
Blacks were dark and deep, and low-light shots offered nice smoothness and clarity. The HDR brought extra impact to whites and contrast. Everything about the image worked.
Downconverted to DTS-HD MA 7.1, the DTS X soundtrack of Furious 7 presented an exciting experience. One would anticipate a high-octane blast from a movie like this, and that’s what the mix delivered.
The soundfield boasted a lot of activity and used the channels well. Cars, vehicles and various forms of mayhem came from logical spots all around the room and meshed in a smooth manner. All the speakers became active partners to turn this into a vibrant, engrossing track.
Audio quality also seemed strong. Music was lively and full, and speech appeared natural and concise.
Effects dominated and appeared solid. Those elements came across as accurate and dynamic, with fine low-end response as well. I felt pleased with this sizzling soundtrack.
How did the 4K UHD compare to the Blu-ray version? The DTS X track felt a bit more immersive, while the visuals came across as tighter and more vivid. Because the Blu-ray worked well, this didn’t become an immense upgrade, but it did turn into the more satisfying presentation of the film.
The 4K UHD provides both the film’s Theatrical Version (2:17:19) as well as an Extended Cut (2:19:53). What does the extra two minutes, 34 seconds bring us?
Not much, obviously. The “Extended Cut” adds about 90 seconds to the opening sequence at the hospital, and this gives a little more background to the relationship between Deckard Shaw and his brother Owen.
The remaining minute or so comes from a few short additions. These come from elongated fight sequences, as the “Extended Cut” brings us more violence.
I assume those snippets got cut for ratings issues. The “Extended Cut” doesn’t bring us graphic violence, but the MPAA may have wanted less of that kind of material to leave Furious 7 in “PG-13” territory.
In addition to the additions, we find a few changes. Some of the scenes offer different dialogue or score. The longer opening sequence remains the movie’s most substantial change, though.
Does the “Extended Cut” work better than the theatrical version? Not really, but it also doesn’t seem any worse.
The two editions remain so similar that the changes make little impact. I’d go with the Extended Cut in the future, but it doesn’t really matter – both offer nearly identical experiences.
All the remaining extras show up on the included Blu-ray copy, and four Deleted Scenes fill a total of five minutes, 59 seconds. We see “Letty at Clinic” (2:08), “Ramsey/Dom” (2:13), “Dressed Up” (0:56) and “Letty Call from Nurse” (0:42).
Three of these provide some basic exposition; they’re not bad, but they’re not particularly useful. “Dressed Up” gives Michelle Rodriguez a little glam time and not much more.
A sort of abbreviated audio commentary, Talking Fast runs 31 minutes, 47 seconds and offers info mostly from director James Wan; we also get some moments with actors Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges and Michelle Rodriguez.
“Talking” mixes remarks with movie shots and behind the scenes footage. Wan chats about his approach to the material, cast and performances, story/character areas, cast and performances, camerawork, stunts and effects, sets and locations, and related areas.
While not a substitute for a full commentary, “Talking” acts as a fairly informative piece. Sure, some of the material seems fluffy, but the participants cover various subjects to a good degree. This becomes a breezy and mostly engaging program.
After this, we get six featurettes about Furious 7. These include “Back to the Starting Line” (12:11), “Flying Cars” (5:42), “Snatch and Grab” (7:31), “Tower Jumps” (6:53), “The Cars of Furious” (10:42) and “Race Wars” (6:34).
Across these, we hear from Rodriguez, Brewster, Bridges, Wan, Gibson, producer Neal H. Moritz, writer/executive producer Chris Morgan, 2nd unit stunt coordinator/2nd unit director Jack Gill, 2nd unit stunt coordinator Andy Gill, 2nd unit director/stunt coordinator Spiro Razatos, production designer Bill Brzeski, picture car coordinator Dennis McCarthy, W Motors CEO Ralph Debbas, and actors Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Nathallie Emmanuel, Djimon Hounsou, Iggy Azalea. Noel Gugliemi and Tony Jaa.
The featurettes look at story and characters, cast and performances, Wan’s work on the production, stunts, action and vehicles. We get a fair amount of info here, especially in terms of vehicles/stunts. Those moments work fine, though I’d prefer featurettes that came with a less breathless tone; these pieces tend to be more hyper than they need to be. Still, they’re interesting enough to maintain our attention.
Inside the Fight splits into four sub-featuirettes. We see “Hobbs Vs. Shaw” (3:15), “Girl Fight” (3:20), “Dom Vs. Shaw” (2:52) and “Tej Takes Action” (1:36). In these clips, we find notes from Moritz, Wan, Johnson, Statham, Rodriguez, Bridges, stunt fight coordinator Jeff Imada, supervising stunt coordinator Joel Kramer, and actor Ronda Rousey.
As implied by the title, these clips examine physical fight sequences. Like the prior featurettes, these become informative but I could live without the over the top tone.
Next comes a Music Video for “See You Again” from Wiz Khalifa featuring Charlie Puth. This mixes lip-synch footage with material intended to remember Paul Walker. The segment that ends Furious 7 does that well enough, so the video feels redundant.
Finally, we take a look at the “Making of Fast and Furious: Supercharged Ride”. This eight-minute, 15-second featurette offers comments from Diesel, Rodriguez, Johnson, Gibson, Universal Creative’s Mark Woodbury, Chick Russell and Thierry Coup, director of photography Tony Cutrono and actor Luke Evans.
We learn about the Fast and the Furious attraction at Universal Studios. It’s nothing more than a long commercial.
The Blu-ray disc opens with ads for the Back to the Future Trilogy, Dope, Pitch Perfect 2 and Tremors 5: Bloodlines. No trailer for Furious 7 shows up here.
14 years into the franchise, Furious 7 showed a well-oiled machine. While the flick doesn’t alter the established template, it manages to give us a pretty good array of insane action scenes, so it musters reasonable entertainment. The 4K UHD offers excellent picture and audio as well as a decent set of supplements. Fans of the series should enjoy this crazed action romp.
To rate this film, visit the original review of FURIOUS 7