Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw Review
We have made it to the final movie in my Fast and Furious review series. Today we are talking about the spin-off movie from the franchise, Hobbs and Shaw. So how is this movie? Let’s talk about it!
The Good:
This is might be the most dumb movie on this list, and I mean that as good thing. There is big dumb action, the one liners are dumb, and just everything about this movie is dumb. And this movie being dumb is the best thing about this movie.
On the action side of things, there are plenty of just big action set pieces that are a lot of fun. The third act on Hobbs’ home island is just insane. Where you have Dwayne Johnson grabbing the back of a truck while also holding onto a chain that is attached to a helicopter, it doesn’t make any sense because that is the fun of it. Smaller action scenes with just Jason Statham taking down thugs at a club are shot very well. All of the action in this movie is unique and different, and no two action scenes feel the same.
It’s also a movie that throws all sense of logic out the window. Like I just mentioned, you have The Rock hanging onto a truck and a helicopter at the same time, and while you are watching it you are just thinking to yourself “wait a minute...that doesn’t make any sense”, and that’s the fun of it. None of the action makes sense but it creates these incredibly fun action set pieces for the audience.
You also have to talk about Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Jason Statham who are just having a ball playing these characters. For 2 hours straight you just have them throwing insults at one another and it’s also fun to see them do this. They have great chemistry, and every scene where they are throwing insults at one another is some of the best scenes in the franchise as a whole. But the rest of the cast is also quite good, Vanessa Kriby is playing Shaw’s sister and she keeps up with them. She is throwing these one liners that make me laugh, she gets in on the action. Idris Elba is the villain, I think he’s great and always enjoys it when he shows up in things.
The movie also has some nice themes about family, and this movie continues that. The word “family” is said roughly 10 billion times every movie, and most of it is tied with Dom’s character. But this time it’s focused a lot more on Hobbs and Shaw and their relationship with their families. And it adds an extra layer to things.
Finally, there are two fantastic cameos inside of this movie. And both of them are a lot of fun, one of them has shown up in a number of Dwayne Johnson movies, and the other is this legendary loudmouth actor in Hollywood. Both of them make me laugh, and I hope we see these characters again in future projects.
The Bad:
First thing that comes to mind is that the movie doesn’t feel like a Fast and Furious movie. It feels more so of a product to allow The Rock and Jason Statham throw insults at one another for 2 hours straight. I mean cars don’t play a factor in this movie. So if this movie wasn’t called Fast and Furious, I might have enjoyed it more.
Also, I think the movie could have been a bit tightened up a little bit. Certain scenes seem to drag on a bit too long, most of them are just more jokes. And the movie is 2 hours and 16 minutes long, it could have been closer to 2 hours long.
Final Thoughts: In general, Hobbs and Shaw is a very entertaining blockbuster and addition to this franchise. It’s a movie that is 100% dumb and that is what makes it so fun. Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham are in the prime when it comes to playing these characters. So I really enjoyed this movie, but never liked it as much as I thought I should. And I can’t really say why that is.
The Score: 8.7/10 (B+)
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