We were really hoping Furious 7 wasn't going to be terrible. Like, really terrible. The global franchise was always in good hands with James Wan at the helm and the casting was pretty good - so any possibility of doing the late Paul Walker a disservice was actually pretty slim. 

Furious 7Paul Walker [center, right] died in November 2013

The action star was killed in a high speed car crash on November 13, with filming only half completed. It led to delays on the movie for script re-writes and his brothers Caleb and Cody were used as stand-ins to complete the remainder of his scenes.

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 "Furious 7 offers edge-of-the-seat excitement with outlandish action sequences, inventive stunts, hilarious cartoonish moments and even some touching emotion" wrote Micah Peters of USA Today.

"There will no doubt be better movies released in 2015, but "Furious 7" is an early favorite to win the prize for most picture," said A.O Scott of the New York Times.

Dwayne JohnsonDwayne Johnson playing with fire in Fast & Furious 7

"There's so much destruction at the climax that it's like an apocalypse with a happy ending. Furious 7 is the demon love child of Fast & Furious 6 and a Mad Max movie," said Michael Sragow of Film Comment Magazine.

"Fast-moving fight scenes, outrageous auto antics and a sprinkling of ridiculous one-liners make Furious 7 a campy, crowd-pleasing escape," said Sandy Cohen of the Associated Press.

"It's an enormous, steroidal blast, and as much ingenious fun as a blockbuster can be," wrote Richard Corliss of Time magazine.

Furious 7 hits theaters worldwide on April 3, 2015.

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