Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw

Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Idris Elba, Vanessa Kirby, Helen Mirren, Eiza Gonzalez, Eddie Marsan, Cliff Curtis, Eliana Sua, Ryan Reynolds, Kevin Hart (uncredited)
Directed by: David Leitch
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Adventure
2019

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) reluctantly teams with Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) to stop a genetically-enhanced villain (Idris Elba).

Review:
Tim: I know there was a lot of controversy and infighting among the original Fast and Furious cast and those involved in this spin-off, but I couldn't care less about all that. Franchises are always going to spin-off other movies, it's not that big of a deal. I'm more interested in the fact that although Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw is decent and equal in quality to the last three main franchise movies, it's a reminder that this whole franchise has far exceeded the level of quality of its films. There's no logical reason for these movies to make as much as they do.

This franchise has always pushed way past the bounds of logic and credulity. It feels like this film takes that to a new level. The antagonist here is a genetically-enhanced human, who basically has close to superhuman-level powers. I have to say, I really didn't care for this direction at all. Hollywood is inundating us with superhero movies- with stories about people with powers far beyond the norm. This franchise (including this spin-off) was well-positioned to give us a break from all that. To tell us a story about "normal" people doing extraordinary things. Unfortunately, this movie ends up feeling similar to those superhero movies and tells that story in a much less effective way. This film would have been far better without the super-strength, super-vision villain. That felt like a big mistake.

The film's biggest appeal (at least in its own mind) is the pairing of Hobbs and Shaw. From a cast perspective, this is incredible- you get to see Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham partner up. That's a lot of fun. The film takes the "buddy cop" approach where they hate each other, but are forced to work together. This is a tried-and-true approach and has been successfully done numerous times (and many attempts have failed). The problem here is that the banter between the two feels so forced. It's rarely funny at all. The humor in this movie is all lowest common denominator. You can only shake your head at what is perceived to be funny. It's a bunch of jokes about how "I'm badder than you are!" and it's all just over-the-top machismo that feels sad more than anything else. This would have been more appealing a decade or two ago. There was absolutely a way to tell a story about two bickering spy-types that wasn't so moronically "masculine" and actually had some level of intelligence behind it. Johnson and Statham didn't seem to have all that much chemistry, anyway. Perhaps it was the poor script they had to work with, but this movie didn't feature them in top form at all.

The film takes a lot of liberties for "entertainment" purposes. Some of these are worthwhile, many aren't. There's a ton of examples, but I'll give you one illustrative one. There's a scene where Johnson and Statham have to go into two separate rooms at the same time. Johnson's room has one big guy, Statham's room has a ton that he has to fight. This whole sequence is done for laughs, but it's just not funny. Johnson is bored, waiting for Statham to finish fighting. Johnson's acting here felt like pantomime. It's pretty bad. Statham's fake exasperation caused me to roll my eyes. But, the worse thing is that the "bad guys" in his room continually pause and wait for him to turn his face to Johnson's room (which is conveniently viewable through a large window) and make a serious of "humorous" expressions. The whole thing is just awful. It makes no logical sense that the villains would pause their battle. It makes no sense that Statham would take his eyes off them (which would be a deadly mistake). It's all supposed to be humorous and entertaining, but it's not. That is the kind of script that was put down here and it's weak and a bit embarrassing.

I'll give Johnson and Statham credit for being in excellent shape and delivering some legitimately solid action sequences. Much of the acting was bad, but you know this franchise will deliver some entertaining action scenes. Idris Elba is always good and he worked well as the main villain here. He was a formidable foe for our two heroes. Vanessa Kirby did a fairly good job in her role. I'm glad they had a woman involved in this overly masculine movie. Her presence was a welcome one. It was nice seeing Helen Mirren in a very small role. I loved Ryan Reynolds here- the movie would have been better with more of him. Cliff Curtis added a nice role and Kevin Hart's cameo was shocking and quite funny.

I know I'm being a bit hard on this movie, and deservedly so- it's not any more than just a decent movie. On the plus side, this spin-off was every bit as good as the last three Fast and Furious movies, so while all of that is disappointing, at least this movie didn't drop in quality. I'm not sure I'd be too excited about another movie with these two, but it's very possible we'll go down that road. I truly believe this movie could have been better, but at least Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw aligned with what we've come to expect from this franchise.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Fast Five, Fast & Furious 6, Furious 7, The Fate of the Furious