Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw — Movie Review
by KJ Proulx
Being a pretty big fan of the Fast & Furious franchise, I found myself worried when they announced that they would be spinning off certain characters and straying away from the core premise that built this series from the ground up. With that said, that announcement came even before the seventh or eighth instalments of the Fast & Furious franchise, so it felt inevitable at some point. Well, it has now hit theatres and the ridiculous characteristics of both characters have been dialled up to a million. Is this really a Fast & Furious movie? Not really, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a good, dumb, fun romp worth enjoying.
Following Luke Hobbs (Dwyane Johnson) and Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) as they are recruited to hunt down a virus known as the “Snowflake” (yes, that’s the plot), which has now been injected into Hattie (Vanessa Kirby), making her a catalyst, ridiculousness ensues. Being pursued by Brixton, a genetically enhanced super-soldier, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw is all but subtle. This film simply chooses dumb plotlines and sticks to them throughout the entire duration. Being a fan of stupid elements if they’re knowingly tongue and cheek, this film as a very enjoyable to me.
Where this film will lose certain viewers is in the fact that it’s not really grounded in reality anymore, and that’s still saying the previous two films were. This time, people fall from skyscrapers with no parachute, with only the concrete to break their fall and walk it off. That’s about the tamest example I can come up with that was presented in this movie. The action is dumb, the dialogue is cheesy, yet great, and if you’re going to see this film other than wanting to see the chemistry between Dwyane Johnson and Jason Statham, then you may not enjoy yourself.
I would say this film’s biggest flaw is the fact that it just wants to continue delivering the goods. It does feel about 30 minutes too long, but the final act of the film is absolutely the best part, so I can forgive it for slightly overstaying its welcome. The overall pacing even felt a little off to me as well, but as I said, the characters, dialogue, and action set pieces all held this movie together nicely. There were many instances where I was just watching a dumb action movie and needed to turn my brain off, and that felt like enough.
In the end, die-hard fans of this franchise will definitely be mixed on this film, but I also believe that newcomers will get a bigger kick out of it. This is a film that’s definitely not catering to the hardcore fans, but action junkies alone. From stupid to dumb, bombastic to insane, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw is everything you expect it to be, but probably even more so. I had a blast watching this film, but I will never tell someone that it’s great. It’s a solid action flick for what it is.
Rating: 3.5/5
Check out the trailer below:
