Firstly, let me clear something out. This is not Fast and Furious 9. It’s a spin-off featuring franchise regulars Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham, an attempt to “fly solo” that has caused grief within the Fast Family. So furious are some of the old gang that they’ve vented their feelings on social media, while Vin Diesel, the series’s linchpin and self-styled big daddy, has long had issues with Johnson and isn’t even pretending to wish the new project well.
The story begins with Diplomatic Security Service Agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) and former British Special Forces assassin-turned-mercenary Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) teaming up against their will to extract a synthetic and deadly virus from Shaw’s sister, MI6 field agent Hattie (Vanessa Kirby), before she is captured by terrorist Brixton Lore (Idris Elba), who plans on using it to commit global genocide. Along the way, Luke and Deckard need to work out their differences, as the two characters have been rivals throughout the course of the last two Fast and Furious movies (2015’s Furious 7 and 2017’s Fate of the Furious).
The plot that follows is formulaic and, to some degree, even derivative. There are aspects of the film that reminded me a bit too much of 2018’s Mission: Impossible — Fallout, particularly the emphasis on a perversely idealistic terrorist group and the use of helicopter-based stunts in the climactic set-pieces. There was also an element of 2000’s Mission: Impossible 2 in the premise of a heroine injecting herself as the dormant carrier of a terrifying virus in order to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands.
A split-screen introduces us to the titular duo. On the left, there’s Hobbs and on the right there’s Shaw. Hobbs wakes up by himself. Shaw wakes up with a woman. Hobbs has a power shake for breakfast. Shaw fusses over an omelet. Hobbs walks outside, and there are palm trees (Los Angeles). Shaw walks outside, and it’s raining (London).
Luke and Deckard are both likable on their own terms and very funny when interacting with each other. Even if there weren’t two previous films that had established their relationship, Johnson and Statham do a superb job of coming across as men who have long known and despised each other, to the point where they can barely overcome their mutual hatred even when the fate of the world is literally at stake. This could become obnoxious or frustrating, but the two actors manage to squeeze the comedy in that set up for all it’s worth. Each one pulls pranks on the other, tries to one-up their counterpart with increasingly creative insults (yeah, wait for some of the best and most hilarious trash-talking).
But the film’s real star is Vanessa Kirby. She is best known for playing Princess Margaret in the TV series The Crown, but last year she had a role in Mission: Impossible – Fallout, and Hobbs & Shaw shows that she can be making this kind of action movie for as long as she wants. She’s a terrific actress, worthy of greater challenges, but what she brings to the action genre is emotional precision and delicacy, as well as moral ambiguity.
The screenplay for Hobbs & Shaw was written by Chris Morgan, who has been writing for the Fast & Furious series for years. He started with the very weak Tokyo Drift in 2006 but has since redeemed himself many times over with solid entries, including Fast Five, Fast & Furious 6 and The Fate of the Furious. What comes through in his writing is that Morgan doesn’t just understand Hobbs and Shaw, he finds them delightful and he can’t wait to throw them into the same room and have them go at each other. Leitch and the screenwriters and knew exactly what it takes to make a solid action-comedy and delivered the goods, plain and simple.
If you’re going to steal, steal from the best, they say– especially if that person happens to be yourself. Part of Leitch’s success here is in ripping off his own work. The director goes back to his experience on the first John Wick film to bring a distinct, bruising flair to Hobbs & Shaw’s hand-to-hand combat. His vehicular carnage from Deadpool 2 can be found in multiple chase scenes throughout. And he even lifts an entire passage from Atomic Blonde right in the middle of his new film.
Unline the MCU, Hobbs & Shaw deserves credit for being a spin-off that doesn’t rely on knowledge of the original films to be understood and enjoyed. Previous Fast and Furious movies are referenced, of course, but hardly in a way that will puzzle or alienate newcomers to the series. Even if Hobbs & Shaw was a standalone movie, it would work just as well as it does as a spinoff released eight movies into an established franchise.
What’s Fast & Furious without some glorious car chases? Hobbs & Shaw too get some of the mouth-gaping as well as utterly ludicrous sequences. Despite clocking in at roughly two-and-a-quarter hours, Hobbs & Shaw moves along at a brisk pace because the action scenes are engaging and creatively executed — something that is not as easy to pull off as it might seem. The hardest thing for the Fast and Furious franchise has been to improve on Furious 7, which was the moment when the franchise finally left street racing behind in favor of pure, distilled excess. The stunts dropped the pretense of believability and strove instead for inspired absurdity. They were better for it. Hobbs & Shaw has a helicopter sequence that’s arguably just as silly and inspired as the Paul Walker-hanging-off-a-cliff-edge-by-a-car’s-spoiler scene in Furious 7, but still suffers some from arriving second.
A number of famous faces show up for a single scene. They’re best left as a surprise. But if you’re wondering why these people would want to do a walk-on, the answer is obvious. The script is good. Every cameo is a little star turn.
To me, one thing that was added on the plot without making it organic was Johnson trying mightily to replicate Diesel’s family first mentality by lacing in a story about Hobbs’s – and the actor’s own – Samoan roots. This was not helped by the fact that Leitch filmed in Hawaii rather than the 2,500-miles-away Samoa.
Maybe these are unfair and unnecessary quibbles for a film whose soundtrack features a song titled “Hobbs & Shaw Rocks!” The film is ridiculous and proud of it. There is even a line where Johnson says, “Of course I think you’re stupid,” almost directly into the camera. Hobbs & Shaw may not win any Oscars, but it’s a thoroughly fun action-comedy that delivers exactly what it promises and what is expected from it.
The Film Reel 