THE BOD COUPLE
Statham and Johnson serve up an unapologetic action blockbuster as two bickering beefcakes forced to work together to save the world
FAST & FURIOUS PRESENTS: HOBBS & SHAW (12A) ★★★★★
LET’S get right to it. Hurrah! This is just over two hours of The Rock and Jay-Stay kicking anarchist butt and having more fun than in all of the other Fast & Furious films put together. Sure, it lags at times and can get a little repetitive, but it is classic summer blockbuster entertainment for fans of action epics.
The clumsy title is a little misleading (contractual no doubt). The later Fast & Furious films may be where hulking US lawman Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and former British military operative-turned-outcast Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) first met and proceeded to punch the living daylights out of each other, but this spin-off action romp is where they reluctantly bond, do battle and set about saving the world.
Sure there are lots of references to the importance of ‘family’ – the heavy-handed message at the plodding core of the eightstrong Fast & Furious film franchise – but with Hobbs & Shaw it plays second fiddle to a daft plot about a deadly bio-threat that wouldn’t be out of place in a Mission: Impossible movie.
What gives this its edge is the personality and charm of Johnson and Statham. They have their critics, but both have a commanding physical screen presence and a welcome
self-deprecating sense of humour.
This time around they have to save – and then join forces with – Shaw’s super-cool baby sister/tough MI6 agent Hattie (The Crown’s Vanessa Kirby), who beats cyber-genetically enhanced terrorist superbaddie Brixton (Idris Elba) to get her hands on a virus that has the potential to kill millions.
Aided by Hobbs and Shaw she must keep Brixton and his hordes of gun-toting bad guys at bay… cue a series of wild action scenes around London, a rescue mission in the toxic wasteland of Chernobyl, and a final showdown on the island of Samoa, where Hobbs turns to his estranged family for help.
There are stunning stunts, the return of Deckard’s mother, first introduced in the last Fast & Furious film and played by none other than Dame Helen Mirren, some engaging – if perhaps unnecessary – cameos, wonderful humour and a whole load of noisy action.
It’s delightfully unsubtle, all-action summer movie fun.