“Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw” is a spin-off action film of the “Fast & Furious” franchise just in case the full title wasn’t a dead giveaway. Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham reprise their roles as Luke Hobbs and Deckard Shaw, respectively, in their very own ridiculous action cinematic extravaganza written by Chris Morgan and Drew Pearce and directed by David Leitch. Idris Elba plays the superhuman bad guy with the unlikely name of Brixton Lore. Of course, there has to be a killer of a pretty girl, this time in the shape of Vanessa Kirby, who joins the boys as Shaw’s sister, Hattie. Helen Mirren turns up with a couple of other somewhat surprising cameos.
Time for a full confession. I have not really gotten into this franchise as a whole. I missed the first movie several years ago and never tried to catch up.
So there is some super virus that everyone is fighting for and is coursing through the veins of Hattie Shaw. Hobbs and Shaw can’t stand each other and have to work together to save the little sister, who is also in the spy business, and of course the world from some secret organization known as Eteon.
The storyline is a bit of a mess, however the charisma and chemistry between the leads is more than enough to still make this reasonably enjoyable. Kirby is quite a surprising find here. She looks great during her own action moments. She has no trouble keeping up with the witty banter of Statham and Johnson. Elba is as compelling as always even when spewing some fairly cheesy lines. This is really just the ultimate mindless popcorn flick, but with a bit more talent in the writing and choreography. Of course, this one requires a significant amount of suspension of disbelief, but the humor and charm displayed by the cast did help me get on board. I hope Kirby shows up again in this franchise. She not only looks great, but she is a scene stealer, which doesn’t seem all that easy when it comes to Statham and Johnson together.
Anyway, don’t try all that hard to make sense of the plot, and there is plenty of pleasant diversion to be found in this piece.
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