Say Goodbye to Jason Statham's $1.5 Billion Netflix Blockbuster

Published Oct 24, 2026, 6:03 AM EDT

Jeffrey is a freelance features writer at Collider. He is an MPA-accredited entertainment journalist and a Tomatometer-approved critic based in the LA area. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Science in Radio, TV, & Film and a Bachelor of Arts in Theater.

It's the end of an era for the Fast & Furious franchise: The most successful installment of the series to date, Furious 7, leaves Netflix on November 1. Fast & Furious fans only have a few days to stream the franchise's biggest installment of all time on the world's top streaming platform. Here’s everything you need to know about this epic $1.5 billion blockbuster that raised the stakes by matching up Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) against his most dangerous adversary yet, Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham).

'Furious 7' Is the Franchise's Most Momentous Installment

Furious 7 was a major moment for the franchise for multiple reasons. Furious 7 marks the final appearance of actor Paul Walker, in his last onscreen role, portraying franchise staple Brian O'Connor; Walker tragically died in a car accident in 2013 before production finished, and parts of the movie were reworked due to his untimely passing. As a result, the movie serves as a bittersweet sendoff to both Walker and the O'Connor character, who receives an emotional goodbye from Dom at the end of the movie. The sequence serves a metatextual purpose, as it depicts the Fast & Furious crew paying clear tribute to their late friend.

The movie is also the first Fast & Furious feature directed by James Wan, who grabbed the reins from Justin Lin, the director who had taken over the franchise with The Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift. Lin transformed the series into something much bigger and grander than ever expected, and Wan continues where Lin left off, raising the stakes for the franchise into a gigantic action blockbuster spectacle. What started as a crime thriller about slick underground street racing became one of the biggest action blockbuster spectacles of the 21st century.

'Furious 7' Closes a Narrative Loop That Began in 'Tokyo Drift'

One of the more fascinating aspects of Furious 7 concerns how it closes off a narrative loop that began back in 2006 with Tokyo Drift. During the movie, Han (Sung Kang) is killed, but we never see the perpetrator. A mid-credits scene in Fast & Furious 6 reveals the culprit as none other than Deckard Shaw, the ruthless older brother of Owen Shaw (Luke Evans), who is seeking revenge against Toretto and his crew. Every movie that came after Tokyo Drift took place beforehand! However, Tokyo Drift also featured a shocking epilogue, where Diesel reprised his role as Toretto, teasing his return to the franchise. Furious 7 finally ties back into the Tokyo Drift epilogue, where Toretto meets the threequel's lead, Sean Boswell (Lucas Black).

The sequel finally ties off a narrative thread that took nine years to complete. That's a complicated storytelling device for a blockbuster action franchise, and Fast & Furious deserves credit for executing it so well.

Dominic Toretto Meets His Match in 'Furious 7'

Image via Universal Pictures

Obviously, the biggest attraction in Furious 7 is Statham's Deckard Shaw, who serves as the perfect foil and adversary to Diesel's Dom Toretto. Shaw is more than a match for Toretto and easily one of the franchise's most exciting and dynamic antagonists. Considering how much damage he does to Toretto's crew, it's no wonder Shaw switches sides in later installments. He injects Furious 7 with genuine menace and danger, as the plot establishes him as a grave threat due to his earlier actions against Han in Fast & Furious 6; he also nearly takes out Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) early in Furious 7.

Statham's charisma and screen presence match — and sometimes even overpower — Diesel and Johnson's performances put together. Shaw and Toretto's epic "street fight" in the final act was like a cinematic clash of the titans, and is easily one of the franchise's best and most memorable fight scenes. Plus, Diesel drops one of the franchise's best lines ever before Toretto and Shaw engage in their epic showdown: "You thought this was gonna be a street fight? You're god-damn right it is!"

Looking back, Furious 7 truly represented the franchise's peak, not just in its popularity with moviegoers and critics, but in overall quality. The series had not yet grown too opulent and become a parody of itself, as it did in later sequels. So now's the time to revisit Furious 7 on Netflix while you still can.

Furious 7