`Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw'
PG-13 2:15 ★★ ☆☆
Cars, kicks, fists, bodies, bullets, trucks, motorcycles, helicopters, jets and exploding shrapnel go flying — along with any notions of the laws of physics, physiology and plausibility — in “Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw.”
The first spinoff in the long-running blockbuster franchise has a lot going for it: Action stars Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham star as the squabbling, top-shelf operatives, Golden Globe winner Idris Elba plays a compelling bad guy, and Vanessa Kirby (“Mission: Impossible — Fallout”) busts heads and any lingering damsel-in-distress stereotypes as a canny MI6 agent.
Mostly, though, “Hobbs & Shaw” has a lot of a lot. The globe-trotting extravaganza from stunts whiz-turneddirector David Leitch (“Deadpool 2”) and writers Chris Morgan (the “Fast & Furious” mastermind) and Drew Pearce (“Iron Man 3”) features a cavalcade of high-tech gadgets, blackoutfitted goons, armed drones, flashy hot rods, enormous explosions and sardonic one-liners, plus multiple family dramas, a High Altitude, Low Open parachute jump and not one but two uncredited A-lister cameos.
Johnson reprises his role as brawny, wisecracking Luke Hobbs, a former agent of the U.S. Diplomatic Security Service who first appeared in 2011's “Fast Five,” while Statham again plays the slick and skilled Deckard Shaw, a British intelligence officer turned mercenary who made his series debut in 2013's “Fast & Furious 6.” With the actors' winning chemistry and their characters' opposing styles, it's easy to see why the filmmakers would want to reunite them after forcing them to team up in 2017's “The Fate of the Furious.”
This time, Hobbs and Shaw have to track down a rogue MI6 agent accused of killing her team and stealing the manmade virus they were supposed to intercept. That agent turns out to be Hattie Shaw (Kirby), Deckard estranged sister, who has been set up by a mysterious tech cult. The point man for the bionically enhanced fanatics is self-proclaimed “black Superman” Brixton (Elba).
If the writing was upgraded — at one point Elba actually snarls the line “Genocide, schmenocide” — “Hobbs & Shaw” might make for entertaining escapist thrill ride for about an hour and 45 minutes. Although the target audience might not mind the extra half-hour run time — my 12-year-old son enjoyed the film — after more than two hours, the latest “Fast & Furious” film feels slow and boring.