Director: David Leitch
Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Vanessa Kirby, Idris Elba, Helen Mirren, Eiza Gonzalez, Roman Reigns, Cliff Curtis, Eddie Marsan.
Director David Leitch's "Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw" stars Dwayne Johnson (The Rock) as DSS Agent Luke Hobbs and Jason Statham as 'reformed' bad guy Deckard Shaw from the "Fast & Furious" franchise. Hence, the expansive convoluted title. "Hobbs and Shaw" is a lot of fun, and miraculously stupid.
In the film's nearly incomprehensible story: MI-6 Operative Hattie Shaw, played by Vanessa Kirby, retrieves the deadly CT-17 virus on her mission. Powerful cyborg Brixton, played by Idris Elba, thwarts the operation seeking to obtain the virus, too. To keep the virus from Brixton, Hattie injects the CT-17 capsule into herself. Yeah, really.
Brixton, who rides this high-tech motorcycle, is super strong, bullet proof, and skilled in martial arts. Eteon Corporation created Brixton, who shares a past with Shaw. Basically, he's invincible. Yet somehow, Hattie uses her smarts to leverage her escape.
Eteon's cloaked Leader wants to create a new world order, by first erasing the 'weaker' elements of the human race.
Now it's up to Hobbs and Shaw to work together to retrieve the virus, before it goes active, and again save the world. As Hobbs reminds Shaw, "... which for the record, will be my fourth time." Hattie (Vanessa) is Shaw's little sister. Consequently, Hobbs finds the smart, beautiful, strong, kick ass Hattie attractive. According to Shaw, Hobbs ain't getting with his little Sis. No way. The screenwriter's obvious narrative tension is hilarious.
The sheer upside of "Hobbs and Shaw" is its amazing cast. Johnson is great in the role. Dude is ripped, funny, and raises an eye brow better than Mr. Spock. Well, almost. Jason Statham is a BMF. In one scene Jason fights 4 dudes in close quarters. He gets hit from different angles, yet he's just thrashing the hell out of those guys with punches, kicks and joint locks. Vanessa Kirby, who also starred in "Mission: Impossible - Fallout", is the total bad ass as Hattie. She displays solid martial arts skills. Ironically, that propels the narrative when her Hattie battles Hobbs. Hobs distinguishes that she fought to escape, not to kill. Vanessa also has an ironic sense of humor. Idris Elba commands absolute cool as villainous, mostly machine Brixton. As he says, "I'm Black Superman".
You get appearances by both Cliff Curtis and Roman Reigns as Hobbs' brothers, Curtis gets to do a good bit and has a good scene with Johnson's Hobbs, Reigns doesn't have any lines and is just there, but his involvement in the climax wasn't too bad and I wouldn't mind seeing him in future Fast & Furious movies if the writers come up with a smart way to include him. You also get cameos by Ryan Reynolds Rob Delaney as two CIA agents, the former, who Hobbs had worked with in the past and Kevin Hart as an Air Marshall. Reynolds' banter which Johnson was the most fun out of all the cameos, but Hart's was just a last-minute arrangement for him to his comedic talent, don't hate the guy though but he wasn't needed and felt that we could have gotten an appearance from either Kurt Russell's Mr. Nobody or Scott Eastwood's Little Nobody since they had worked with both Hobbs & Shaw in past Fast movies. Also the absence of Luke Evans' Owen Shaw is a strange one, but hopefully the character returns in future instalments.
Director David Leitch's art is electrifying cinematic action. In "Hobbs and Shaw" he gets to work with Jason Statham, who I think is an elite martial artist, and the absolute best in the movie game today. Their collaboration is often breathtaking.
Dwayne and Jason have palpable natural screen chemistry. No small feat given their individual undeniable charisma. Their trash talk is hysterical. Hobbs says of Shaw's voice: It's like dragging his privates "over shattered glass..." Well, Hobbs actually used another word for privates, among other things. Just saying.
The miraculously stupid occurs near the end, with the fight with Samoan tribal weapons, and the tow truck and helicopter. WTF? It's in the movie trailer, too, however, while I enjoy the sequence, it was must an excuse to make the movie over two hours long.
That being all said, "Hobbs and Shaw" is not a perfect movie but it was fun to watch and I hope those two characters get to return to the main Fast & Furious series in the near future.
Rating: 7.5/10
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