Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw

An Extremely entertaining, action-packed, nitro-boosted joyride. The B-movie plot interspersed with over-the top-action scenes, with a designer virus and a lone bad guy who values nothing more than good old friendship and family, is no surprise in this franchise. Diesel style. Leitch is aware of that this is essentially a B-movie, so he grabs it by the udders and milks its absurdities for all they're worth. Statham and Johnson’s well-honed one-liners are like something straight out of the '80s. The kinetic and clear-cut action pays respect to the old school, even though it’s upgraded like Idris Elba, who played a black Superman with unbelievable verve. The time flies by as we are taken to great locations and the cameos are the icing on the cake. Vanessa Kirby has style and at the end the whole thing cries out loud for a sequel. And I say yes to that. ... it melts their guts. She’s already nine years old, she’s ready to hear things like that. (31/07/2019)

The only thing this movie has in common with the F&F franchise is the main duo. It wants to resemble Mission: Impossible, but it most closely resembles G.I. Joe. It’s saved only by its similarities to Moana, but it’s a lot more stupid, which is a paradox, given that it’s intended for an adult audience. Only ten percent of the jokes are funny, the buddy chemistry is poor (the first encounter in the glass office, WTF?), and of all the action scenes, only the last one is interesting. (26/08/2019)

Are the screenwriters and director really more than 15 years old? I can't really believe that, or that the same David Leitch shot John Wick. Of course, the Fast and Furious series is also getting faster, more frantic and more and more ridiculous, but at least it's fun. Hobbs and Shaw didn't amuse me much except for in a few scenes. (05/09/2021)

I got what I expected. Hobbs and Shaw is a spectacular action film in which reality has nothing to do, and the closer it gets to its end, the more elaborate, insane and bigger it gets. And given that the power plant here blows up somewhere around the 70th minute, you probably have an idea of what it looks like at the end. David Leitch has approached this Fast and Furious spin-off as a modern adrenaline-packed Bond film, but unlike, say, xXx, it works brilliantly. Jason Statham and The Rock are great in both the action scenes and the moments when they're bantering. Idris Elba also nails the bad guy, and Vanessa Kirby is not only sexy, but she manages to keep up with the heroes in the action scenes as well. The only thing that bothered me is that Hobbs and Shaw didn't take the opportunity to be significantly different than the franchise it came from. I was hoping that they the film would push the envelope a lot more, and that the kind of futile attempt to look serious and earnest that we've been seeing from Vin Diesel for a few years now would disappear. Hobbs and Shaw have the chops to put their own face on it and step in a slightly different direction. But they were a little afraid to do it the first time, and when they did, they were a little clumsy. On the other hand, that's also why I hope they get at least one more chance. (31/07/2019)

A loud, overblown and clunky action film with a digital finale and a director who can’t handle a blockbuster. It's a wonder that the action doesn't really stomp much, because for example Atomic Blonde may have had a script that was too convoluted and made it stumble in the last stretch, but what made it stand out was the climactic action. The potential here was endless, they had a two-metre mountain of muscle and and a chiseled bloke, master of all martial arts. So, what happened with Leitch’s typical signature is a big mystery. Idris Elba was far more interesting, but his character, unfortunately, had a flat trajectory. Kirby was OK. At the beginning things still look decent, the car chase in London was very good, but things get weaker in the East, and the Samoa action definitely buries it. It will probably find its fan base, despite the lack of Vin Diesel, the franchise's main draw, and I'd much rather watch the twenty-fifth episode, where all the key characters are together. (04/08/2019)