Posted by Action stars and man mountains Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham reprise their Fast and Furious roles for Hobbs and Shaw, a spinoff of equally overblown proportions. Hobbs and Shaw have to save the world from Brixton Lore (Idris Elba) and Eteons evil plans. Brixton is a RoboCop like splicing of man and machine (or as he put it ‘black superman’), a genetically enhanced cog, alongside a deadly virus of course, in Eteons mission to ‘evolve’ mankind. Alongside the titular characters is Hattie (Vanessa Kirby), Deckard Shaw’s sister, a MI6 agent and together all three must stop Brixton, the virus and save the world.
More focus on espionage but it is the same old save the world fare, full to the brim with bruising fights, ridiculous car chases and lots of banter. David Leitch directs this film as expected, a globe trotting, gun wielding, logic defying action film with the colour and spectacle of it’s parent films but very little of the charm. The stunts are certainly spectacular, with a particularly mazey car chase through London and a hilarious tussle near the end involving four hefty cars, a chain and a helicopter sticking in the mind. Alas these grow wearisome as there is not much else to the film, the plot is flimsy and the dialogue is bland. There is the aforementioned banter but they even over egg that pudding, the inventive insults are funny at first but two hours and 15 minutes later they grow quickly tiresome.
There is nothing else to fall back on aside from this playground bickering, as such the chemistry and charm that helped counteract the extravagance of Fast and Furious 8 is largely absent. The most enjoyable characters and the best acting belongs to Vanessa Kirby and Idris Elba, the latter matching Statham and Johnson for cocksure bravado. The former acting as a nice buffer from the overplayed, testosterone fuelled machismo.
Whilst there is certainly a plethora of explosions, fights, car chases and exotic locations, there is no plot, no tension and very little humour. Save yourself the effort and just watch FF8 again, or David Leitch’s better films Atomic Blonde or John Wick.
4/10
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