Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw

Starring Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Idris Elba, Vanessa Kirby

Directed by David Leitch

The Story:
MI6 agent Hattie Shaw (Vanessa Kirby) finds a virus that can lead to the death of mankind, but is also tracked by super soldier Brixton Lore (Idris Elba), who frames Hattie for the deaths of her fellow MI6 agents and for going rogue.  Meanwhile, Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) is assigned a task to find the virus and Hattie and bring her to justice, while Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) is told the same thing, except the fact that Hattie is his sister.

The men refuse to work together, and Brixton uses that to his advantage to get the upper hand on the two men as he tries to capture Hattie so he can extract the virus, but they put aside their differences and work together with Hattie to find a way to contain the virus and stop Brixton from unleashing a worldwide pandemic.

The Synopsis:
The "Fast and the Furious" franchise has become something of a shell of what it originally was about.  While the films do continue to showcase cool cars and chases, they've moved from a small group of underground racers to having them serve the government to find international threats to world security, and we don't mind at all - the chemistry between the actors are fluid and easily enjoyable, and leads to our suspension of disbelief.  When "The Fate of the Furious" came out, people took notice of the on-screen comedic chemistry between Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham, and decided to go forward with a spinoff featuring the two - which, ironically, has fractured the real-life "Fast and Furious" family, with Vin Diesel expressing his distaste, and Dwayne Johnson saying he probably won't be returning to the franchise.  With such high-stakes drama happening off-screen, was it really worth it to release "Hobbs & Shaw?"  Who knows, because I feel we'll be seeing everyone together again, but as for the movie itself, it really does serve as the perfect summer popcorn blockbuster: no real plot, no strong character development, but a whole lot of explosions, fights, car chases, and on-screen chemistry that allows for a simplistic viewing that'll take your mind away from the horrors and fears of the world.

For this outing, Luke Hobbs and Deckard Shaw are enlisted to find a virus that could destroy the world before former agent Brixton Lore does.  The virus was injected by Shaw's MI6 sister Hattie, and she's hunted down by Brixton and his men.  This is your typical mismatch buddy cop comedy, but done right because of Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham's natural banter - I'm actually positive they didn't have much of a script, but rather traded jabs at each other completely ad-lib.  For a film that's over two hours long though, it'd be difficult to maintain the same love and enjoyment seeing these two go at it alone, so director David Leitch (who also directed "John Wick," "Atomic Blonde," and "Deadpool 2") throws in two equally charismatic actors - Idris Elba and Vanessa Kirby - to round out the edges and deliver a wholly enjoyable film that doesn't feel like you've spent over two hours watching.

What this film does well is twofold: makes excellent use of the actors, and provides top-notch action entertainment: no cerebral script needed.  Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham effortlessly work off each other and conversely brings out both the best and worst in each other in wildly humorous ways, as they participate in a classic "pissing contest" where each tries to one-up the other, but doesn't come across as annoying or irritating like other buddy cop comedies.  Idris Elba joins the cast as the self-described "bad guy" who's infused with technology to make him the ultimate super soldier - or, as he says, "Black Superman."  Basically you need a man who's been injected with technology to take on these two heavyweights, and the fighting sequences are top-notch, but Elba also gives his own effortless charisma to the character and clearly enjoys what he's doing.  Rounding out this fantastic cast is Vanessa Kirby as Deckard's sister Hattie, who's clearly no damsel in distress (in fact she was trained by the same people who trained Charlize Theron in "Atomic Blonde") - but she also offers her own unique flair to the character that makes her equally as strong as the big boys who literally fill up the screen.

The action is...pun intended...fast and furious here, from the beginning to the end there's hardly a moment where any downtime is had.  Whether they're fighting on the bed of a truck as literally everything is exploding around them, or driving through the crowded streets of London (where Brixton has an amazing transforming motorcycle which is really cool), or defying all laws of physics as they use different cars to bring down a helicopter, there's never a dull moment that'll have you yawning in boredom.  Obviously this is Leitch's bread and butter, as he's directed some of the best action films in recent memory, and is fully allowed to express himself here and offers a standout "Fast and Furious" spinoff that both feels like it's part of the franchise as well as maintaining its own individuality.

The Summary:
Typically spinoffs are terrible, but "Hobbs & Shaw" works extremely well due to four charismatic leads, top-notch action, and knowing the audience doesn't come to a "Fast and Furious" movie for scripted dialogue and Shakespearean soliloquies - they just want to see fast cars, explosions, and friendly banter.

The Score: A