Fast & Furious Presents:
Hobbs & Shaw
Year: 2019
Director: David Leitch
Starring: Idris Elba, Dwayne Johnson, Vanessa Kirby & Jason Statham
Runtime: 137 mins
BBFC: 12
Published: 23/02/22
Director: David Leitch
Starring: Idris Elba, Dwayne Johnson, Vanessa Kirby & Jason Statham
Runtime: 137 mins
BBFC: 12
Published: 23/02/22
After eight instalments and the Fast Saga becoming more lucrative than ever, Universal decided it was time for them to join the ‘cinematic universe’ bandwagon and create spin-off films set within the Fast & Furious universe to milk even more money from the endless cash cow that the series has become. But where do they take the spin-off, who leads it, what will it be about? Thankfully, the title is self-explanatory enough to give fans of the series a good idea of where Universal are going with it, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw.
Following the theft of a biological superweapon by an MI6 agent, Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) are forced to work together to track down the woman who has it, Hattie Shaw (Vanessa Kirby), Deckard’s sister. Unknown to them though, Hattie has stolen the weapon to keep it safe from a genetically enhanced supersoldier, Brixton Lore (Idris Elba), who plans on using it to eradicate normal human beings so that his people can be the evolutionary successor to mankind.
Following the theft of a biological superweapon by an MI6 agent, Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) are forced to work together to track down the woman who has it, Hattie Shaw (Vanessa Kirby), Deckard’s sister. Unknown to them though, Hattie has stolen the weapon to keep it safe from a genetically enhanced supersoldier, Brixton Lore (Idris Elba), who plans on using it to eradicate normal human beings so that his people can be the evolutionary successor to mankind.
It’s as stupid as it sounds really, and with The Fate of the Furious having thrown reality out of the window, it’s only appropriate that Hobbs & Shaw follows suit in terms of crazy, nonsensical, hyper sci-fi spy thriller style. But what Hobbs & Shaw lacks is all the charm that the previous Fast Saga films had.
On paper having Hobbs & Shaw as the leading men works, because they’re both decent characters, strong actors, and have good chemistry together. Unfortunately though Hobbs & Shaw boils down to the two actors getting into catty comeback arguments (which aren’t even funny anyway) with each other and underwhelmingly boring fistfights with everyone else.
The Fast Saga has, at least since the fifth entry, prided itself in creating some insane action sequences that utilise fast cars as the centrepiece. Hobbs & Shaw however almost ditches cars completely, save from one or two short sequences, and instead relies on traditional action movie brawling. But it doesn’t present this in an interesting way, and as a result feels extremely generic, and completely forgettable.
Add to this that none of the characters are particularly interesting. Hobbs & Shaw aren’t given any meaningful character development, Hattie Shaw is just a McGuffin the entire film, and Brixton feels more suited to a below average superhero villain role because he’s just straight up invincible with no proper explanation as to why (just because he’s an experiment is basically what it boils down to). Ryan Reynolds and Kevin Hart make brief appearances and they are arguably the best part about this film, with each of them brining their signature humour to the table to actually make the film feel worthwhile.
I don’t have much else to say about Hobbs & Shaw. It’s entirely forgettable, it lacks the creativity of the mainline Fast Saga entries, it’s not good enough of a spy thriller to be able to work as a standalone property, but it’s also not enough like Fast & Furious to truly appeal to that franchise’s fanbase. Unless you’re a twelve year old boy who likes mediocre action films because explosions then don’t bother with Hobbs & Shaw, it is without a doubt one of the weakest films in the Fast Saga (probably still better than 2 Fast 2 Furious though).
On paper having Hobbs & Shaw as the leading men works, because they’re both decent characters, strong actors, and have good chemistry together. Unfortunately though Hobbs & Shaw boils down to the two actors getting into catty comeback arguments (which aren’t even funny anyway) with each other and underwhelmingly boring fistfights with everyone else.
The Fast Saga has, at least since the fifth entry, prided itself in creating some insane action sequences that utilise fast cars as the centrepiece. Hobbs & Shaw however almost ditches cars completely, save from one or two short sequences, and instead relies on traditional action movie brawling. But it doesn’t present this in an interesting way, and as a result feels extremely generic, and completely forgettable.
Add to this that none of the characters are particularly interesting. Hobbs & Shaw aren’t given any meaningful character development, Hattie Shaw is just a McGuffin the entire film, and Brixton feels more suited to a below average superhero villain role because he’s just straight up invincible with no proper explanation as to why (just because he’s an experiment is basically what it boils down to). Ryan Reynolds and Kevin Hart make brief appearances and they are arguably the best part about this film, with each of them brining their signature humour to the table to actually make the film feel worthwhile.
I don’t have much else to say about Hobbs & Shaw. It’s entirely forgettable, it lacks the creativity of the mainline Fast Saga entries, it’s not good enough of a spy thriller to be able to work as a standalone property, but it’s also not enough like Fast & Furious to truly appeal to that franchise’s fanbase. Unless you’re a twelve year old boy who likes mediocre action films because explosions then don’t bother with Hobbs & Shaw, it is without a doubt one of the weakest films in the Fast Saga (probably still better than 2 Fast 2 Furious though).