To say I was excited to see this seventh installment of the Fast and Furious series would be an understatement. Vin Diesel, who stars as Dom Toretto in the film, predicted in an interview with Variety that he is certain Furious 7 would win the “Best Picture” Oscar, unless “the Oscars don’t want to be relevant ever. There is nothing that will ever come close to the power of this thing.”

Less than two weeks after opening, the movie already hauled in $800 million in the box office, on track to be Universal Picture’s and Fast and Furious’ first movie to eclipse $1 billion in earnings. Part of this is attributed to the death of Paul Walker (who played Brian O’Connor), who passed away halfway through filming, in late fall of 2013. Viewers like me were curious to see how Paul would be substituted with CGI and his brother as a body double, and how the director would handle the unexpected absence of one of the series’ most beloved personalities.

I won’t spoil the ending for those who haven’t seen it yet, but anyone who was a fan of any of the older fast and furious movies should appreciate the touching (and tear-inducing) tribute to the late Paul Walker. As far as plot goes, it’s very similar to every movie that precedes it. Backdrops are more extravagant, costumes go over–the-top, and more than 230 cars were destroyed in stunts. But, the movie stays true to the idea of family rather than friends, a central theme of the series. Cheesy one-liners like “One last ride” are echoed multiple times throughout the two hours of screen time, which is a little eerie to me because although it is said in every one of the seven movies, when Dom says it this time, the audience realizes that one of our favorite actors and characters has taken his final ride.

3.5/4 stars