Fast & Furious Presents Hobbs & Shaw

Directed by David Leitch, Fast & Furious Presents Hobbs & Shaw follows Dwayne Johnson’s Luke Hobbs and Jason Statham’s Deckard Shaw as they’re forced to team up after a nefarious supervillain (Idris Elba’s Brixton) kidnaps Deckard’s sister (Vanessa Kirby’s Hattie). Filmmaker Leitch delivers a fun opening stretch that benefits substantially from the solid chemistry and affable banter between the two protagonists, with the far-from-surprising effectiveness of Johnson and Statham’s work here certainly going a long way towards perpetuating the perfectly watchable atmosphere. And although Leitch initially offers up a series of broad yet refreshingly coherent action set-pieces, Fast & Furious Presents Hobbs & Shaw progresses into an increasingly padded-out midsection that slowly-but-surely loses its grip on the viewer – with the complete and total lack of real stakes certainly exacerbating the less-than-engrossing vibe (ie both Hobbs and Shaw come off as indestructible cartoon characters, eventually). By the time the endless, aggressively excessive climax rolls around, Fast & Furious Presents Hobbs & Shaw has undoubtedly cemented its place as an especially ineffective modern blockbuster that wears out its welcome by a good 45 minutes.

* out of ****

1 Comment

  1. I agree. It got old fast.

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