Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw [Movie Review] - Hope 103.2

Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw [Movie Review]

Hobbs and Shaw’s DNA is a bit different from earlier Fast and Furious films. Producers give more time to establishing the story before explosive action.

By Laura BennettWednesday 7 Aug 2019Hope AfternoonsMoviesReading Time: 3 minutes

Within any work place, I’ve come to discover there are those who live one quarter-mile at a time, and those who think Dominic Toretto is a gourmet pizza topping. If you’re thinking of pizza right now, we’re probably not friends…but we can be, I just need you to appreciate Fast and Furious.

Steeped in a foundation of family loyalty and trust, when The Fast and Furious came out in 2001, we were introduced to a crew who didn’t just care about cars, they cared about each other. If you messed with one of them you messed with them all, and you knew Toretto and his team were not to be crossed. Of course that happened, resulting in street races, bust-ups and gravelly one-liners from Vin Diesel about leaving his sister alone.

It was perfect for the teen audience who latched on to it, and now we’ve lived so much of our lives with them, it’s only right we ride with them to the end #loyalty #rideordie.

The franchise is now nine movies deep 18 years later, with Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw being the first of three spin-off stories to come. Fast and Furious 9 will release next year, with a tenth and supposedly final film about the core family coming out in 2021.

Aside from following characters birthed out of the original series, Hobbs and Shaw’s DNA is a bit different from the earlier Fast and Furious films.

It’s noticeably dialogue heavy in comparison, and the producers give a lot more time to establishing the story before any kind of explosive action ensues. In Hobbs and Shaw, if there’s going to be a gravity defying car chase, you’re going to believe it’s for a darn good reason. Not just because it looks cool (which it does).

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Fast and Furious: Hobbs and Shaw movie still

Hobbs and Shaw are also busy guys. They’ve been called into action to save the world from a “cyber-genetically enhanced villain” Brixton (Idris Elba), who is threatening the future of humanity and the life of Shaw’s sister Hattie (The Crown’s Vanessa Kirby).

Fast and Furious: Hobbs and Shaw movie still

Brixton’s trying to convince everyone man would be better if we were made of machines, and for a for a moment Hobbs and Shaw attempts to make a statement about the potential of human life and where our true power resides.

It’s a lofty premise for an oversized action flick, but you won’t care. It means Idris Elba gets to wear silver teeth and call himself ‘Black Batman’ and we get to feel like our guilty pleasure isn’t so knuckle-headed. Win-win.

Long-time fans may miss the renegade street-race culture of the early movies, but Hobbs and Shaw still delivers on offering complete escapism. It pauses for moments of meaning, with Hobbs in charge of tender one-liners about family and team work that bring out Dwayne Johnson’s loveable family-friendly side. He and Shaw show us that even the greatest of foes can come together to save the world.

Fast and Furious: Hobbs and Shaw movie still

Hobbs and Shaw is thoroughly feel-good and ridiculous, it just needed a Jason Momoa cameo and it would’ve been perfect.

Hobbs and Shaw is in cinemas now. Rated M

Interview: Dwayne Johnson pays homage to his Samoan culture