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Paul Walker’s piercing blue eyes stare out over a steering wheel in “Furious 7” with fiery determination that can’t help but leaving viewers feeling bittersweet. Walker died in November 2013 at age forty in a high-speed car crash during a break in filming. This latest installment of the high-octane franchise — complete with cars plummeting out of a cargo plane in midair — marks his final film appearance, a coda that mixes adrenaline, affection, and a whiff of what might have been.
“We all knew that it was our job to leave a legacy for someone we love and someone the world loved,” co-star Vin Diesel said on the “Today Show.” The film also stars Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Jordana Brewster, Dwayne Johnson, and Jason Statham.
Walker’s good looks and laid-back vibe often had him pegged as “a lucky, pretty face that didn’t have much going on upstairs,” but those who knew him even on the press circuit could tell he had a much deeper side, wrote Entertainment Weekly writer Grady Smith. The California native and father competed semi-professionally as a racer and founded the nonprofit organization Reach Out Worldwide, providing medical assistance, heavy equipment, and other aid during disaster relief. “When a tsunami comes, it erases everything. There’s no history,” Walker said after a 2010 trip to Chile. “Even the grass is gone. It’s just a blanket of sand.”
The “Fast and Furious” franchise made him a star. Critic Peter Sobczynski, writing for RogerEbert.com, credited the series’ success in part to Walker’s “Everyman charm and his ability to provide a solid center for the craziness around him,” qualities that permeated his other roles. “He had the looks and presence of a teen idol … He also projected a down-to-earth quality that helped audiences relate to him even in the most cartoonish of circumstances.”
At Word and Film today, I look at seven of Walker’s roles from “Pleasantville” to “Hours” that show him in different lights.
I liked “Furious 7,” by the way. Amazing stunts that thrill because they’re way beyond logic, and moments where real life adds extra poignancy, such as when Walker’s character tells his wife (Brewster) by phone that he loves her. “Say something else,” she urges. “That sounds like you’re not coming back.” The film’s sendoff for his character and tribute to him is full of affection and has just the right touch.