Hobbs and Shaw – Film Review
Dwayne Johnson (Hobbs) and Jason Statham (Shaw) are two popular characters in the Fast and Furious films and they get their own spin off adventure.
Directed by Deadpool director David Leitch, Hobbs and Shaw is a comedy orientated action spin off of the Fast and Furious film series.
The chalk and cheese characters have a love-hate relationship and go about things in different ways, but always with the same result – carnage.
The plot isn’t something worth recounting other than a McMuffin that gives our ‘heroes’, joined by Vanessa Kirby (Hattie) – Shaw’s sister – a reason to thump people while globe trotting.
Hobbs and Shaw – bantz and action comedy
All of this while the bickering that occurred in the most recent Fast and Furious film in 2017 comes to the fore and is ratcheted up to 11.
While the boys are not busy fighting each other, or trading epic ‘bantz’, they have to fight Iris Elba, who appears to be a cybernetically enhanced villain and old foe of Shaw, and a private army employed by a faceless villain who is seeking to take over the world for apocalyptic reasons.
And guess what? They learn to work together while protecting Hattie from Elba’s Terminator-like villain.
Hobbs and Shaw manages to avoid outstaying its welcome and while it finishes well with a good action set piece.
The problem I feel here is while Johnson and Statham’s banter is a fine garnish for a Fast and Furious Film, the central premise (friends are family) is much stronger with Vin Diesel and company than in this film which only adds a dash of character building in the final act.
Leitch pulls some strings to bring in three starry cameos to add a little pizazz to proceedings but it does seem that the film is unevenly paced and the best bits are in the trailer.
Like the Marvel movies, there are three post credits sequences, with one at the very end.
Hobbs and Shaw (12A; moderate violence, infrequent strong language; 135 minutes)
Director(s): David Leitch
Cast Includes: Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Vanessa Kirby, Eiza González, Idris Elba, Helen Mirren
Summary: FAST & FURIOUS: HOBBS & SHAW is a US action drama in which the fate of the world lies in the hands of three heroes, after one of them becomes infected with a deadly virus.
Rating: *** (Decent spin off of a popular action series)