FAST & FURIOUS PRESENTS: HOBBS & SHAW Review

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw is a movie where, in the breadth of a single scene, we are witness to a character stating that, "humanity's hate for itself is greater than its self-preservation" alongside another piece of dialogue that goes something like, "genocide, smenocide." This is to say that Hobbs & Shaw very much knows what it wants to be with the question being if by the end of its mammoth two hour and seventeen minute runtime it actually has become what it wanted to be. One might interpret these two opposing lines of dialogue (spoken by the same character, I might add) for a film that wants to have its cake and eat it too by being both a serious action film that in fact takes itself seriously while injecting consistent moments of humor with the obvious outcome being that the latter then also consistently undermines the former, but what sets Hobbs & Shaw apart from its Fast & Furious brethren is that, from the get-go, it's apparent this thing doesn't take itself serious at all-in any regard-and so, when a character does begin spouting philosophical verbiage as Idris Elba's Brixton Lore does from time to time he does it with his tongue planted firmly in his cheek. It only seems natural this would be the case in a movie where both Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Jason Statham play what are more or less heightened versions of their own public personas whilst The Rock takes down a helicopter with his bare hands and Statham shows off his Wing Chun kung fu, karate and kickboxing skills to the extent that if he and director David Leitch (John Wick, Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2) don't team-up for a martial arts-heavy film series to jump-start the next phase of Statham's career I will be sorely disappointed. As the ninth film in the series, but the first spin-off it only feels like the natural evolution for Hobbs & Shaw to be as outlandish and self-aware as it is and in following through on these instincts in every situation and not attempting to get too caught-up in plot, basing anything in anything resembling reality, or details such as logic and physics Leitch and his crew end up delivering exactly what audiences are looking for from this type of summer blockbuster. Keeping a keen eye on character and an even tone with the humor and its balance with the legit action Hobbs & Shaw maintains the emphasis on character being most important as that's what brought us here in the first place while the delivery of tight fight choreography and colossal action set pieces is what convinces us that not only should we continue to care about and invest in these characters, but that the creative forces behind the scenes care about them too...and that's ultimately what allows Hobbs & Shaw to succeed at becoming exactly what it wanted to be. 

First Trailer for FAST & FURIOUS PRESENTS: HOBBS & SHAW

A spin-off of The Fast and the Furious franchise that might have simultaneously broken-up the Furious family, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw sees Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's US Diplomatic Security Agent Luke Hobbs forming an unlikely alliance with Jason Statham's Deckard Shaw. The two had some electric chemistry when they were finally allowed to face one another on screen in 2017's The Fate of the Furious, but no one expected-least of all Vin Diesel and (apparently) Tyrese Gibson-said chemistry to result in an actual stand-alone movie where the hardened secret agent and former villain would team-up to fight what I can only assume is Idris Elba's baddie, Brixton, who no doubt has some nefarious plot to steal a valued piece of technology. Hot off the success of Deadpool 2, the film is directed by David Leitch (John Wick) with a script by Chris Morgan, the franchise’s screenwriting architect since Tokyo Drift. I'm going to be honest, I've kind of fallen hard for this franchise and I need a new chapter in this ever-expanding series of increasingly ridiculous films every couple of years and when I don't see as much coming to fruition it makes me very sad. I'm happy Johnson and Statham are able to collaborate further and have some fun with this spin-off and I sincerely hope it helps boost Johnson's floundering financial reputation (Rampage and Skyscraper were not great for his brand) while only continuing to prove what a global star Statham is (The Meg was no joke), but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't the littlest bit upset that Hobbs' side excursions will be keeping him from the penultimate chapter in the main Fast and the Furious series of films if it is to remain true that Diesel and the gang call it quits after Fast 10. Only time will tell how as much pans out, but for now Leitch, Johnson, and Statham seem to have crafted more than a worthy distraction. Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw also stars Vanessa Kirby as Deckard’s sister, Hattie, along with Eiza González, Eddie Marsan, and opens on August 2nd, 2019.