Fast & Furious Presents Hobbs & Shaw Review
Things are changing in the Fast & Furious franchise, two new leads are taking the wheel this time around for an interesting spin-off. This entry follows Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) as they aim to deal with a deadly virus, and one cybernetically enhanced villain played by Idris Elba. Another key player involved in this is another family member of the Shaw crew, played by Vanessa Kirby. She’s rather charming in this, and also delivers a punch by herself.
There are some other surprise casting elements in this, but I won’t spoil them as they’re a treat to see be revealed as things progress. I absolutely loved the first surprise individual whereas the other I’m not normally a fan of them, that being said they were enjoyable here. That’s really a lot of the film in general, it’s fun. The first two thirds of it were actually rather excellent and the banter between the two leads was funny. It definitely delivered on the laughs, some cool spy moments and tons of action. Things do however trail quite a bit towards the end of the film as it feels rather long and just gets way too ridiculous.
While the franchise is known for that aspect, it felt like things were going to be somewhat grounded a bit into the film, that wasn’t the case as it progressed however. They definitely aimed to add some layers of complexity to the two leads which I suppose was alright, that sort of just felt too present however and it could have been more subtle. There’s a lot of heart infused in this, not a lot of cars however which may be a shock to some.
The two loads bring some laughs, they banter back and forth quite aggressively. There were always fresh jokes being flung, and many neat situations that mixed up what they had to deal with. Considering the history of the two, you could guess where it was headed and it does pan out that way.
I really liked the initial elements of the film, but it is far too long and it gets too over the top towards the end. The CGI elements also look rather fake at times when they go wild in the ending of the movie. They do have some really neatly shot combative segments, the slow motion was used properly for the most part. Things looked slick, and generally the crew was always cool. This expanded the world of the franchise in some neat ways, where cars aren’t necessarily needed it seems.
I found some of the scenes to be really well shot, and things to be generally choreographed in a pleasing way. They’d got a solid crew here, and I can see this being expanded further as time goes on. They give a bit of a mystery, and that’s probably going to be the starting point. You don’t necessarily need to know anything going in, and that’s solid for gathering newcomers.
The Conclusion
Fast & Furious Presents Hobbs & Shaw was certainly fun, with laughs and generally it just goes on far too long. I had fun with the initial parts of the movie, but it started to drag as things progressed and it got too wild for me. The CGI suffered as the run time went on, but the action was always with a pedal to the metal.
The spy stuff was really neat, and the two leads work well together. The different, yet similar backgrounds contrast well and they were fun to see in their own ways. One with a bit of stealth, the other bringing intense combative action. I certainly found this film to be funnier than anticipated, with a solid dash of action thrown in the entire way through. The story could have been used better, it did feel somewhat generic.
I liked that they embraced the wildness fully, at the same time they should know when to restrain and pull back at certain times. There will likely be more of these to come, it’ll be interesting to see what happens with them. This aspect shows that the franchise has room to grow in new ways, while being entertaining just like the core over the top furious films.
Fast & Furious Presents Hobbs & Shaw Review at Theater with Streamed Viewing
Screening Provided by NBC Universal
Rating Overall: 6.7
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