The Fast And The Furious franchise has had quite a run since the franchise first appeared on the big screen with Rob Cohen's simple based plot revolving around a group of young car racing gangs driving around in sleek and shiny fast cars in the form of street racing with the twist being one of the drivers is an undercover police officer, serving as a nod to Katheryn Bigelow's 1991 crime thriller
Point Break. What began as a nod to the 1950's era of cheesy teenage exploitation flicks along with a touch of
American Graffiti to it,
The Fast And The Furious franchise has seen an unusual yet impressive change in narrative over the course of its nine installment franchise and counting. Whereas the stories began as simple street racing between rival gangs has morphed into a franchise that now centers around the concept of heists, revenge, working with the police to bring down more dangerous criminals, and now has taken the buddy cop route with
Fast & Furious Presents Hobbs & Shaw. Technically serving as the 9th film in the popular series,
Hobbs & Shaw doesn't rank among the franchises best works, particularly
Fast Five and
Furious 7, but it still has enough charm, laughs, strong chemistry between the films main leads, and explosive action with an appealing cast to entertain its audience from start to finish while remaining connected to the
Furious series.
Hobbs & Shaw's plot focuses on a dangerous yet dedicated federal agent named Luke Hobbs (Played by Dwayne Johnson) teaming up with former British elite military operative street outcast Deckard Shaw (Played by Jason Statham), forming an unlikely yet goofy partnership when a cyber-genetically enhanced anarchist (Played by Idris Elba), theatens humanity's existence with a deadly virus that serves as a biological weapon. Whereas the first threes
Fast And The Furious films dealt with street racing essentially, the fourth to seventh installment of films centered around plots involving revenge, running from the law, fighting dangerous criminals while working with the police to bring them down, and performing heists,
Hobbs & Shaw carries with it the most ambitious plot yet for the series as it aims higher with the threat of humanity being thrown into the mix with the use of a biological weapon. It also gives the main stars an opportunity to cash in on their franchise rivalry turned friendship with its
Lethal Weapon style storyline which also includes Hobbs having the hots for Shaw's badass and attractive sister Hattie Shaw (Played by Vanessa Kirby), who carries the virus inside of her. To put it in blunt terms,
Hobbs & Shaw is dumb fun that's masked by a slick look to it which often feels like a James Bond style action movie with its standard car chases and intimidating villain yet goes the
Lethal Weapon, 48 Hours, and
Rush Hour route with its main characters bickering and ego challenge as they're forced to work together to solve their case which in the case here is them saving the world. It never tries to be anything more than just good-old fashioned fun for its audience with its wild and outlandish action while capitalizing off the well-matching of the franchises stars. The film basically takes all the best elements of the franchise thus far and does its own thing with it both succeeding with the end result while showing audiences that the old
Furious series can retire and continue off with the new narrative presented here. Whereas the first movie was an over-the-top street racing flick, the new movie feels like a cross between
Live Free And Die Hard mixed with the DNA of a superhero flick basically. One can't help but scratch their head wondering what happened to this franchise from where it began, its not a bad change but its highly doubtful anyone expected the franchise to evolve into what its become now which is an event for audiences involving fast cars, kinetic action, and star-power driving it.
As far as the acting goes, Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham hands down make the film worthwhile with them playing up their bantering and rivalry with a buddy cop feel to it in the middle. These two work very well together and are hilarious, making their characters feel like kids bickering at times masked as two grown men. The film is centered around their characters and they don't disappoint with the charisma they bring to the screen. Vanessa Kirby works well here playing Shaw's estranged sister as well as an MI6 agent accused of killing her team and carrying the virus. Kirby demonstrates strong chemistry with Johnson and Statham with her character making the story a trio effort to save the world with the story carrying with it a
Bad Boys ll style subplot involving the partner falling for the others sister, which is the case with Hobbs character being suspicious of Hattie at first while showing definite attraction to her with the same coming from her. Idris Elba does a solid job playing the films main villain even going as far to declare himself as being the "black Superman" with his abilities presented in the story. Elba's villain is intimidating, entertaining, and effective to watch as he matches the stature of the films main leads making everyone feel balanced. Cliff Curtis does a likable job playing Hobbs brother Jonah with Helen Mirren shining in her minimal role as Shaw and Hatties mother Queenie. Ryan Reynolds shines in his surprise role in the film as a former partner of Hobbs, bringing his own brand of charm and humor to the story with the promise being implied that his character will have a bigger role in the films sequel. Eiza Gonzalez shines as Madam M with Eddie Marsan leaving a notable appearance as Professor Andreiko. Eliana Sua works great as Hobbs daughter showing great chemistry with Johnson, making the audience believe they are truly father and daughter. The cast as a whole does a terrific job and help make
Hobbs & Shaw a fun and thrilling experience.
In terms of directing,
Atomic Blonde filmmaker David Leitch who also served as director for
Deadpool ll, and produced
John Wick, takes the directing reigns here and delivers an action flick that looks appealing visually with its insane action sequences matching its appealing cast. Leitch doesn't just treat this as any spin-off, he presents
Hobbs & Shaw as an event for the fans while also building a case that the Vin Diesel side of the franchise should essentially retire and allow
Hobbs & Shaw to take it out further. Leitch proves not just here but with his previous work that he stages and makes well-executed action sequences, that serve the films plot while giving the audience their large dose of popcorn entertainment. He knows what kind of film he's making here and sticks to his guns crafting a fun action movie that serves as a vehicle for the films main stars. He doesn't present any fight sequences that matches the awesomeness of the extended fight sequence in
Atomic Blonde but more than makes up with the way the action sequences are staged here, tapping into the plots absurdity. He does a great job of showing moments during the action that come across as being humorous bits for the audience with
Hobbs & Shaw having competing moments with each other to see who is better. He not only allows the action to run the scene but he also elevates it through the charisma and rivalry between the films main stars. With the way Leitch directs the action in the film, audiences would be hard-pressed to allow for suspension of disbelief and just go along for the ride. Leitch for the most part does a really good job here paying homage to the 80's action movie style with a bit of 90's thrown in there mixed with 2010 plus action set-pieces while carrying one of the franchises strongest casts ever.
The films writing by franchise veteran Chris Morgan and
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation's Drew Pearce is standard yet strong for the type of genre it is. The writers present nothing groundbreaking to the table and essentially reuse old plot lines from other action movies (Hence the
Bad Boys ll reference) with the story no longer being grounded in reality as it takes a more 007/superhero style approach to it with saving the world from a deadly virus angle. The action is presented as being more absurd this time with people falling from skyscrapers with no parachute yet somehow managing to walk it off once they hit the ground. The dialogue has moments where it comes across as being cheesy or immature but it works because of the main stars spot on chemistry. What this movie essentially tries to do and what it ultimately was designed for is to continue to deliver what the audience has come to love and appreciate about this series which includes the action, the thrills, the excitement, the main stars, and shutting off the brain for two hours to allow for the audience to be entertained to the fullest. The films strongest point comes within its third act which includes a climactic helicopter face-off involving a chain attached to racing vehicles that keeps in line with the spirit of the series, particularly the most recent films crazy stunts. Its no
Mission Impossible in terms of crazy stunts but its still pretty impressive and exciting nonetheless. While playing it safe and giving audiences what they want is a good thing as the overall film is satisfying, it also becomes a negative aspect for it as the film feels like it never tries to be something deeper nor bigger than the series to really make it rank among the best in the series. It however, lays out the foundation to move past the effective yet growing tiresome theme of "family" that Vin Diesel's side of the series has relied too heavily on and now feels like a desperate attempt to keep its main ensemble cast together.
Hobbs & Shaw could've easily ended up being an embarrassing misfire for both the studio as well as the main actor behind it but instead it works. It delivers on the promise of being nothing short of just plain old dumb fun, that looks awesome visually with the right main cast and tons of action. Straying away from the core premise was always a risk that fans advised against the filmmakers from doing with the series but not only does it exceed expectations, it almost suggests that this is the new path to take the franchise as the regular entry films feel stretched out after
Furious 7's brilliant ending with a tenth installment on the way to continue from where
The Fate Of The Furious left off. Perhaps as the filmmakers suggest with this movie, its not a bad idea that the series finds new blood and takes off from here in a new direction as Vin Diesel's side of the franchise doesn't feel the same without Paul Walker involved. With
Hobbs & Shaw, the opportunity is there to breathe new life into the series while expanding on its own plot. The film is a fast-paced buddy cop action flick, that hits all the right notes in terms of being a successful one with the characters such as the the dialogue, action-set pieces all being weaved together nicely thanks to the works of both the cast and crew. So long as one agrees to shut their brain off and just go for the ride, they will find much to enjoy with
Hobbs & Shaw as the film shows that there is still life left in this series while providing the antidote to audiences feeling the series isn't the same without Paul Walker. For Die Hard fans of the
Fast And Furious series, they will find enjoyment with this film as it presents a fair share of reasonable excitement while making them think about the future of the series as The Rock and Statham make the case that they are the way to go.
Final Verdict: If you're a fan of the series, its a must watch. Definitely better and more satisfying than
The Fate Of The Furious.
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