I spent my Easter Sunday not listening to a stellar rendition of the “Hallelujah Chorus,” or dining on ham and or hiding Easter eggs.
Instead, I washed sheets (a lot of sheets) and cried so many tears this afternoon, my eyes are still red.
My family came to visit for Easter weekend, but because we live seven to nine hours away from them, they left early this morning in order to get home in time to face Monday morning. Our Easter dinner was celebrated yesterday and included brisket (who needs ham when you have a smoker grill?) and an epic Easter egg hunt (surely, a scavenger hunt with clever clues is better than hard boiled eggs hiding under bushes, no?).
So I spent the day re-assembling my guest beds. But we found a couple of hours to check out the latest installment in the Fast & Furious franchise, “Furious 7.”
I know. How festive. Blame the producers who decided this was a good weekend to open the film.
I have come to know the details of this movie sequel machine because of my 20-year-old Adored Stepson, who has cultivated an appreciation for fast cars. So I have seen every F&F movie at least once and, with some of the better installments, several times.
[By “better,” I feel compelled to make it clear that Adored Stepson’s definition of a good “Fast & Furious” sequel features a particular model of car and stunt driving requiring high speeds, not distracting tricks. We don’t judge this franchise on, for example, acting. Or dialogue.]
In any case, F&F movies do have interesting plots (however cartoonish they may be), humor and compelling characters.
Even bystanders might be aware that one of the primary actors, Paul Walker, died during the filming of “7.” So I arrived at the theater interested in how they managed to piece together a performance.
What slammed me like a race car into a guard rail was the way the movie makers paid tribute to Walker. I wasn’t even particularly invested in his character, and I mourned for him for the last quarter of the film.
It’s tough, this getting old stuff, when we realize death does us all in, not just actors with lead feet. I think my tears were not so much for Paul Walker as they were for my family, my Beloved, myself. We all meet death at some unplanned point.
It’s a little bit ridiculous that a car racing movie would cause these deep thoughts about death to bubble up inside of me. But the writers and actors get credit for creating a beautiful tribute to the actor through his character that is worth seeing if you have any interest in Vin Diesel or fast cars.