Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019)

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019)

Released: 2019
Genre: Action, Adventure, Genre, intheater
Director: David Leitch
Starring: Idris Elba, Jason Statham, Dwayne Johnson, ,
Run time: 137 min
IMDb: 7.2/10
Country: USA
Views: 175940


User Reviews: Plotwise, Hobbs and Shaw doesn’t give anything we haven’t seen before and isn’t trying to pretend otherwise. The film makes it obvious that the pair are going to bicker and then make up, and it makes that aspect feel half-assed. Even a pair that is supposed to hate each other should have chemistry, but Johnson and Statham mostly phone in their animosity, save for a few good scenes. Their ostensibly humorous bickering mostly consists of taunts about ugly faces or grating voices that lack any real wit (maybe in the inevitable sequel the pair can go undercover on RuPaul’s Drag Race where they learn how to give a proper read). Once the two start to work in tandem they develop chemistry, but that doesn’t happen until we’re in the final act.

What it consistently delivers, however, is tons of action that will stimulate your adrenal gland, if not your cerebrum. Leitch (who directed the first John Wick, as well as Atomic Blonde and Deadpool 2) knows how to keep the set pieces from becoming too one-note by alternating between car chases, gunplay, and old-fashioned fist fighting. He also knows that the action is the most important part of the movie, making sure that we don’t go more than 20 minutes without some sort of violence happening on screen. This keeps the 136-minute runtime feeling brisk, and is a welcome break from the comedic relief.

While the action is fantastic, there are some aspects of it that stretch belief. Some of them are hand-waived away by Brixton’s cybernetic enhancements (He starts out a chase scene by carrying Hattie/Kirby while running vertically down the side of a skyscraper and ends it by managing to slide under two moving trucks without a scratch), but the ones portrayed by non-enhanced human became almost parodic, culminating in a scene where Hobbs manages to hang onto a chain that is attached to an ascending helicopter without any being lifted up. This ridiculous stunt made even the most enthusiastic audience members groan in protest.

Hobbs and Shaw attempts to transcend its meatball plot by leaning into its thematic elements, to mixed results. The story is set in motion by a mysterious group that wants to advance the human race with technological advancements. As such, the plot does venture into a Diet Coke version of the transhumanist debate, with it (predictably) landing on the side of "stay human" crowd. However, it doesn’t really focus on what constitutes humanity or the ethics of changing the human body with technology and instead focuses on the unethical way they want to achieve their goals. In the end, the transhumanist theme feels like a way for the filmmakers to inject aspects of the megapopular superhero genre into a franchise that was about as far removed from the superhero genre as an action film can get.

This is a cheerful addition to the F&F family and a must see for the fans!

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