Hobbs & Shaw Review: A Kick-Ass Action Entertainer!

The Fast & Furious had its highs and lows with only a few noticeably decent films. The last (eighth) instalment in the franchise, The Fate of the Furious with Charlize Theron as the villain, left such a sour taste in everyone’s mouth as the movie itself is underwhelming. Subsequently, Hobbs & Shaw, the new spin-off movie in the franchise stars Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham and Vanessa Kirby in the lead roles with Idris Elba portraying the evil antagonist character. The storyline of the movie starts with both Hobbs and Shaw getting contacted by the CIA agents to investigate a deadly virus, which is a possible threat to the entire world. Eventually, after a few altercations, the offbeat duo joins hands with Hattie (Vanessa Kirby) to take down the originator of the virus, the Black Superman himself, Brixton (Idris Elba).

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Opening with the things I liked about the film, as expected, the action sequences were spectacular to watch on the big screen. Scenes which are out-of-this-world and crazy, superhuman and nonsensical, after all, it is just dumb fun. In its entirety, the movie had lengthy and supremely grand action scenes occupying its runtime. And they did deliver in terms of crackpot entertainment as there are well put-together and produced to look monumental on a larger scale. Additionally, alongside all the kick-ass action, the comedic bits also entertain inside and out. The movie firmly establishes that the two lead characters, Hobbs and Shaw, do not like each other, and the narrative plays off well with their back-and-forth dialogue and arguments. With quite a few surprise cameos, the humour in the makes the most of its opportunities and works out well.

More under the umbrella of positive things, the three lead characters, Johnson, Statham and Kirby dominate, overwhelm and carry the entire movie with their charisma, and appealing screen presence. From their stellar performances and stealing the show everything related to action, these guys are one of the primary reasons why the overall product felt tolerable. On top of that, even for a spin-off movie, the producer did not take a step back as far as the production quality goes. Fast cars, exotic locations, hot women and catchy music presided over the entire movie giving that Fast & Furious essence and vibe.

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But, this movie is nowhere near perfect. First and foremost, the storyline is almost equivalent to every superhero/spy/action film. The antagonist plots to wipe-off half the population with a deadly virus and the protagonists follow a deliberate plan to stop him from executing the plan. It is the same tedious story we’ve seen a million times before and Hobbs & Shaw doesn’t take a different road and sluggishly follows the same route again. Idris Elba, although he looks spectacular as the evil supervillain, his character is inadequately written. As a puppet who takes orders from higher authority and a threat who fails to win every time, his presence in the film felt so generic and did not serve any purpose.

Overall, Hobbs & Shaw is a grand, entertaining, chucklesome 135-minute action thriller which delivers on all its promises. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Jason Statham and Vanessa Kirby along with a few other surprise cameos compile few incredible action and comedic sequences which are worth watching on the silver screen. However, the narrative had quite a few issues, and Idris Elba’s character felt so out-of-place. But despite that, the good outweighs the bad, and this film is everything that you expect from a Fast & Furious movie.

Rating – 3/5 | Grade – B

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