What is the plot of this feature? Well, American lawman Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and British terrorist turned superspy Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) can't stand each other's guts but are forced to reunite when Shaw's sister, Hattie (Vanessa Kirby), has come into possession of a virus that could wipe out half the world's population. Super-powered soldier Brixton Lore (Idris Elba), working for the evil corporation Etheon, is sent to get that virus and will kill anyone who gets in his way. The fate of the world is at stake. Looks like former rivals Hobbs & Shaw are gonna have to work together on a globe-trotting adventure that sees them both coming to terms with their respective families.
Ah, families, a word the previous eight Fast & Furious movies love. Hobbs & Shaw shares an affinity for families as well as a devotion large-scale spectacle just like its predecessor. Despite sharing those interests, Chris Morgan and Drew Pearce's screenplay decides to make Hobbs & Shaw a standalone entry in the Fast & Furious saga. References to the other movies is kept to a minimum (I don't think the character Dominic Toretto gets hinted at even once) while the tone here is more of a comedy with digressions into stylized action that would have been right at home in a particularly ambitious Saturday Morning Cartoon. Unlike The Mummy or Batman v. Superman, Hobbs & Shaw is an attempt to create a cinematic universe that realizes individual movies working as their own thing has to come before larger world-building.
And Hobbs & Shaw does indeed work in spite of a number of issues with its engine, er, script. Much of the comedy stems from extended insult exchanges between Statham and Johnson that have a tendency to go on too long like bits of improv comedy in a Judd Apatow movie nobody behind-the-scenes could bear to part with. Also a foible is that taking both the comedy and the action to such heightened extremes tends to create occasional tonal dissonance. There's one point in the story where we go from Hobbs & Shaw trading wisecracks on an airplane to an intimidating horror movie sequence of Brixton Lore stalking a friendly scientist and its a tonal switch that just doesn't work at all.
Similarly, there's also a tendency for some of the potential urgency in the plot to feel diminished by the lighthearted hangout nature of the proceedings, particularly in regards to a ticking clock plot device related to Hattie that never feels as threatening as it should. But such a plot element comes at the cost of this being an extremely breezy and enjoyable adventure, one that places an emphasis on silly car chases and sincere pathos above all else. It's an aesthetic choice that taketh away, yes, especially when it comes to creating a genuine sense of danger, but it also giveth in many respects. Specifically, it giveth a lot in terms of delivering scenes that just left me grinning wildly at the mayhem occuring.
Much of the action scenes in Hobbs & Shaw have a sense of escalating absurdity that echoes less other action movies than it does the last minute of the music video for Like A Boss. This is a compliment. Jason Statham drives a dune buggy out a window. Idris Elba has a loyal motorcycle sidekick. At one point, Eddie Marsan shows up with a flamethrower and starts going all Rick Dalton on people. Director David Leitch honestly eschews realism here even moreso than when he directed a Deadpool movie last year and the results are a steady stream of outlandish spectacle that delivers on the delightful preposterousness one would want out of this movie.
Going for broke when the opportunity arises for ludicrous chaos turns out to be the perfect area for Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham to excel as actors. The basic tenants of Johnson and Statham's rapport consisting of them being enemies who have no choice but to work together is nothing new, no question about that. But both actors are so enjoyable in their respective parts and they share such fun chemistry in their banter that they make sure that this old dog can still do a few new tricks. It's also helpful that both of them are already such larger-than-life personalities in their previous action movies that a film like Hobbs & Shaw feels like the perfect star vehicle for them.
Fast & Furious newbies Vanessa Kirby and Eiza Gonzales don't have a whole lot to do (hopefully that female-led Fast & Furious spin-off finally gives the ladies of this series something to do). On the other hand, fellow franchise newcomer Idris Elba makes for the perfect villain for this kind of film. My only real complaint with his baddie performance is that his character doesn't have a handlebar mustache he could frequently twirl. Elba's clearly all-in for this goofy pandemonium and I'll freely admit, so was I, especially once a climax bringing the character of Luke Hobbs back to his home arrived. I was joking when I said The Lumiere Brothers would be crying tears of joy at watching Hobbs & Shaw, but I'm not joking when I say they, as well as general moviegoers, would likely have a blast watching Hobbs & Shaw.
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