Movie Review - Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw

Warning: Spoiler Alert

From the simple street races and thefts, this franchise began to become bolder and more outrageous. In a good or bad way, you decide. I'm talking about one of the summer's blockbuster hits, Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw.

(Image: imdb)

In Hobbs and Shaw, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Jason Statham reprise their roles as DSS Agent Luke Hobbs and former UK Special Forces agent Deckard Shaw, respectively. Villains-turned-heroes, these characters certainly impressed in the Fast and Furious (F&F) series. With the introduction of Idris Elba (as Brixton Lore) as the new baddie, high-octane action is definitely guaranteed. One of the good things of this spin-off is, despite still being in the F&F universe, you can say that it detaches itself from the other films as none of the main roles from the other installments are in this one. Aside of course the two names in the title. But enough of the chit-chat, let's get right down to it, shall we?

Second Warning: Are you sure you wanna do this? Fine

(Image: Empire Online)

From the get-go, this movie gets your blood pumping. The action and explosions seem to come at every second. Hand-to-hand fight scenes there, gunshots here. Not forgetting the various chases done using cars and motorbikes and the helicopter scene at the end. Any action movie buff would love this film. Not only that, the banter and trash talk between Hobbs and Shaw is as entertaining as it is clever. Johnson even told in interviews that some of them are just ad-libbed on the spot just to see Statham's reaction and apparently one of them was used. What do you expect? You got two high-testosterone characters trying to outdo each other. But they don't just talk the talk. They definitely have the skills to back it up. That is until they come across Brixton Lore.

Idris Elba as Brixton Lore (Image: Collider)

Working for a cult that believes humankind is weak, Lore is a cybernetic super soldier/operative of the terror organisation Eteon. Armed with superior hand-to-hand combat abilities and what looks like ocular implants and other futuristic tech, Hobbs and Shaw may have found their match. After, framing Shaw's sister, Hattie, for murder and treason, Lore is hell-bent on retrieving the virus "Snowflake", a virus Hattie was suppose to get but injected it into herself to keep it away from Lore and Eteon.

Vanessa Kirby as Hattie Shaw (Image: Collider)

All of this is well and good but I'm just not buying it though. I mean, from humble beginnings like drag racing, F&F really turned the absurd dial up to 11. They dragged a big vault using 2 cars and a cable in Fast 5, took on a tank in Fast and Furious 6, and a computer program called "God's Eye" that doesn't know the meaning of "privacy" in Furious 7. Not to mention The Rock throwing a big torpedo in The Fate of the Furious. In this film you have cybernetic super soldiers you'd think belong in the MCU (that's a Captain America joke). It's like Star Wars got into the mix and they got a child you don't know to love or hate. Sounds harsh, I admit it. But hey, I love Star Wars. Personally, I don't mind it that much. But it won't hurt for them to maybe take it down a notch. To each his own, you know?

Despite the over-the-top plot and story, this movie makes it up with one of the major themes of the movie: FAMILY.

After injecting herself, Hattie at first reluctantly let big brother Deckard help her in extracting the Snowflake virus from her body. After Hobbs gets involved and the trio have knowhere to hide, they go back to Hobbs' roots. Somewhere Hobbs hasn't been for 20 years. Samoa.

What's sure about F&F is that family is a big theme in all of the installments. So this spin-off is no different. Buying time before Eteon comes for them, Hobbs asks his estranged brother for help. No surprises, brother Jonah (played by Cliff Curtis) isn't having any of it. None of the brothers including WWE superstar Roman Reigns, cast as Mateo Hobbs, wanted to do anything with it. That's what mothers are for. Mama Sefina Hobbs (played by Lori Pelenise Tuisano) still accepted his son back despite others believing he betrayed them. In this time in Samoa, viewers get to dive deeper into Hobbs' backstory. Criminal father, turbulent relationship with the brothers. Surely enough, all of them patch things up when Eteon comes knocking. Hits you right in the feels. The Rock's pride in his heritage is further portrayed in this film as they fight Eteon using traditional Samoan weapons after Mama Hobbs threw the guns out. You get to here him do a Samoan battle cry too which is pretty cool.

To say that this movie is good is possibly an understatement. I think the ~$400 global earnings speaks for itself. If you're looking for an action-packed movie with witty banter and eye candy, this movie is perfect. You're gonna see a few cameo appearances too. Although, if you get too hung up on the details and think it's all too far-fetched, maybe you might not like it but I highly recommend it regardless. What other movie can you get 2 bona fide action stars fight "black Superman"? That said, I'd give this movie a solid...........

9/10

Now that that's done, I'm actually looking forward to "Angel Has Fallen" and "Zombieland: Double Tap"

The third Installment in the Fallen Series (Image: Lionsgate)

The Long Awaited sequel to 2009's Zombieland (Image: imdb)

Can't wait!

See you guys on the flipside!!

P.S: You guys might wanna stay for the post-credit scenes. There are 3 of them.