Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw - Hulking charisma trumps sequel fatigue

Johnson Thomas

Hell bent on developing a macro franchise for the nearly defunct ‘The Fast and the Furious’ series, David Leitch (Deadpool 2) teams up with the most charismatic actors in the series. Dwayne Johnson who plays Security Service Agent Luke Hobbs and Jason Statham as the enigmatic former spy Deckard Shaw, seen in last two editions of the super successful money-spinning series (8 editions amassing $5 Billion worldwide), and, the resultant may not be spectacular but the abrasive kinesis between the two certainly strikes up some sparks. This is of course the first stand-alone vehicle for the two action heavy-weights, so that’s something to be appreciated.  

The stories are, no doubt, becoming increasingly ridiculous and marketing seems to determine where the action is moving. In fact, this one goes all the way to Samoa to lend Dwayne Johnson a ‘return back to hometown’ send-up. The hulking lawman Hobbs (Johnson), an agent of America's Diplomatic Security Service, and Shaw (Statham), a former British military elite operative, continue to swap smack talk and body blows in the downtime between trying to help Shaw’s sister MI6 agent Hattie Shaw (Vanessa Kirby) get the world decimating contagion virus out of her system, and eventually defeat super villain “Black Superman” aka Brixton (Idris Elba), an agent of an underground military-tech group called Eteon.

Leitch employs his own helmer’s ammo—slowing down to highlight fists connecting with jaws and using hyperactive shaky camerawork and editing to convey coarse dynamics. Skirmishes look computer graphics generated while the stunt-chases, though they look good, fail to generate tension. The action is inventive rather than fluid—best exemplified by the final act, which leans into the “family” theme while conveying the message that ‘reconnecting with family’ even after decades of alienation is important for individual as well as collective well-being. The familial aspects of this fantasy-actioner may not up the emotional quotient but it has a feel-good factor to it and the two action heroes strike enough sparks off each other to make their scratchy banter entertaining. Leitch also co-opts Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds into the act – so we know where this new-fangled overlord is heading.