Film Review: Popcorn Ready ‘Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw’

CHICAGO – The dog days of the summer are upon us, which also reflects from the silver screen. “Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw” is a spin-off of the eight film “The Fast and the Furious” franchise. Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham are the title characters, fighting and driving their way into our hearts.

Rating: 3.0/5.0

This is a clunky movie, part super villain, part reluctant buddy movie and all fast fighting. In the Fast & Furious universe, Luke Hobbs and Deckard Shaw don’t like each other much, but somehow are thrown together once again through an extra-agency law enforcement layer (no wonder our deficits are rising). But it is summer movie eye candy at the same time, with ninja style fighting, lots of hot weaponry and the signature car chases that created the oohs and aahs at the preview screening. Soon the cinema culture will be just a series of franchise chapters, like soap operas on old timey TV. Turn off your mind, pass the popcorn and enjoy the show.

There is a terrorist organization called Eteon, which possesses a virus that can literally melt human tissue. British Mi6 agents, led by Hattie Shaw (Vanessa Kirby), infiltrate the virus location, but the team is ambushed by Eteon agents led by a cyborg named Brixton (Idris Elba). Hattie manages to escape and puts the virus inside her body as a dormant host. She becomes one of the most wanted persons in the world.

This looks like a job for Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and Deckard Shaw (brother of Hattie, portrayed by Jason Statham). They are the undercover enforcers of The Fast and the Furious universe, brought in by the CIA and Mi6, except they don’t like each other much. Their assignment is to find Hattie before cyborg Brixton gets to her, to save the world from the virus.

“Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw” opens everywhere on August 2nd in IMAX, Dolby Cinema and regular screenings. See local listings for format theaters and show times. Featuring Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Idris Elba, Vanessa Kirby, Helen Mirren and Rob Delaney. Screenplay by Chris Morgan and Drew Pierce. Directed by David Leitch. Rated “R”