Movie Review: Hobbs & Shaw

By Ryan Grow | August 7, 2019

Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham finally get their much-awaited spin-off in Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, now playing in theaters. 

Ever since hulking lawman Hobbs (Johnson), a loyal agent of America’s Diplomatic Security Service, and lawless outcast Shaw (Statham), a former British military elite operative, first faced off in 2015’s Furious 7, the duo have swapped smack talk and body blows as they’ve tried to take each other down. But when cyber-genetically enhanced anarchist Brixton (Idris Elba) gains control of an insidious bio-threat that could alter humanity forever — and bests a brilliant and fearless rogue MI6 agent (The Crown’s Vanessa Kirby), who just happens to be Shaw’s sister — these two sworn enemies will have to partner up to bring down the only guy who might be better than themselves.

So, does Hobbs & Shaw successfully pull off this team-up? The answer: yes. Its a fun and exhilarating action film, bonded with charm and is helped by the amazing chemistry between its two leads. 

Hobbs & Shaw takes all of the excitement of the last few Fast & Furious films and manages to go even more insane. It does this without crossing the line into complete craziness and leaves enough room for further installments. 

Director David Leich gives this film a different tone. Hobbs & Shaw has a much more grounded look, one that’s darker and gritter than its parent franchise. Even when we get to the sunlight of Samoa, there is something there that takes over the natural brightness. 

However, one theme that carries over from the other films is family. The Shaw siblings haven’t spoken in quite some time, and Hobbs has issues with his family. As our heroes have to learn to work together, they also have to work on their personal issues as well. 

We already knew that Johnson and Statham were going to be phenomenal, but it’s the newcomers that deserve that attention. Idris Elba is a fantastic villain, playing a man whose strength and intelligence has been artificially enhanced, but where all the upgrading in the world can’t turn him into a god. Vanessa Kirby shows off some amazing butt-kicking skills and gets along great with Johnson and Statham. 

It was only a matter of time before one of the most popular film franchise would decide to do a spin-off and it’s one of those things where they didn’t need to do it but you’re really glad they did.

Critic Rating: 4.5/5 Stars

What did you think of the movie? Sound off in the comments!