Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (Review)
Hobbs & Shaw is Out of Control Action in the Best Possible Way.
Upfront I’m going to admit that Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw is pure mindless action. It’s a movie featuring two larger than life heroes forced to work together in order to say the world in the most over the top ways imaginable. Like the franchise that it’s a spin-off from, the film treks that globe giving its characters plenty of chances to defy every known law of physics (and common sense) as they kick ass and take names. The premise of the film is a hodgepodge of laughably cliche action tropes, but thanks to a talented director and charismatic stars, it’s hard to really care about little things like “plot.” Hobbs & Shaw might come dangerously close to being a train wreck at times, but boy is it a beautiful train wreck.
The film is the first of what I assume to be many spin-offs from the Fast & Furious franchise. It follows the characters of Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) who are forced to work together to save the world once again. Joining them is Shaw’s sister, Hattie (Vanessa Kirby), who is every bit as big of a badass as her big brother. Together they have to take on an evil conspiracy threatening to destroy the world thanks to a cybernetically enhanced super soldier, Brixton Lore (Idris Elba). The two are forced to put their palpable machismo aside and work together, something that proves to be much easier said than done.
David Leitch is quickly proving himself to be one of the most exciting action directors working in the industry today. For those that don’t know, his past works include the likes of Atomic Blonde, Dead Pool 2, and John Wick. The former stuntman has a knack for pushing action sequences to the very limits and always seems to leave audiences slack-jawed, staring in awe. This is definitely the case with Hobbs & Shaw. Of course, the film takes place in the Fast & Furious universe and those films are well known for absurd over the top stunts. Well, I don’t think any of them have anything on the sheer craziness of Hobbs & Shaw. However, this proves to be a double-edged sword for the film. While it’s awesome seeing the character in brutal fight sequences or epic car chases, there are a lot of them in this film. It sounds like a strange complaint, but the reason I bring it up is that you start to get desensitized to them early on and the film continues having to up the ante until they’re a little too much. I’m all for suspending disbelief when it comes to these sorts of films, but Hobbs & Shaw even have me rolling my eyes at a few parts.
Hobbs & Shaw is pure testosterone. The leads (Johnson and Statham) are two of the biggest action stars in the world these days and most of the film centers around them butting heads. One might even go so far as to say that it’s a two-hour dick-measuring contest between the two of them. Even the villain gets in on it as he tries to prove just how weak and pathetic his enemies are compared to him. Hell, Vanessa Kirby even gets in on the action as her character proves she’s just as much of an alpha as her muscle bound co-stars. Now, this “conflict” is all done so that when the characters do put their differences aside and work together, it’s supposed to be more meaningful. It’s supposed to show how they’ve managed to grow and change, their hero’s journey. The thing is that nobody really cares if Statham and Johnson learn a valuable life lesson just in time for the credits to roll. We paid for a ticket because we want to see them punch things and bicker, and Hobbs & Shaw delivers in full in that regard. The characters hilariously mock and insult each other, spitting some truly side-splitting quips as they try to prove just who is the bigger and tougher hero.
I have to be clear that Hobbs & Shaw might not be a “good” movie but it is a lot of fun. After the viewing I overheard the audience talking about just how absurd and unbelievable so many of the action sequences were. However, that was quickly followed by them reading off a long list of what their favorite parts were. In order to truly enjoy this film, you have to embrace just how stupid so much of it is. Don’t fight it with silly things like logic, just lay back and accept that it’s going to have stuff like a super-strong cyborg that can throw motorcycles or a final showdown in Samoa for some reason. It’s a movie that’s going to do what it wants to do and scoff at the consequences. However, sometimes that’s exactly what the doctor ordered. I definitely enjoyed Hobbs & Shaw, but I feel like potential viewers should be warned that it’s not a movie that will stand up very well to scrutiny.
While Hobbs & Shaw might be heavy on the action, what I appreciated the most from it was its sense of humor. Of course, Statham and Johnson share plenty of barbed quips back and forth, but it’s really the surprise cameos that make this film so uproariously funny. I won’t spoil them for you, but I will say it’s clear that the cast and crew have plenty of A-list friends who wanted to be part of the fun as well. While the action pushes the boundaries of disbelief at times, it is all still incredibly impressive. It might not be as good as some of the other Fast & Furious films, but it’s a more than welcomed addition to the franchise and I find myself hoping that the studio will invest in a sequel with these characters.
