Fast spinoff stars deliver punchlines as well as punches
Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw (M 135 mins)
Directed by David Leitch Reviewed by Graeme Tuckett ★★★1⁄2
Afriend told me a few days back that the Fast and the Furious franchise, which now spans nine films, countless games, a TV series and quite probably a line of condoms, is the most profitable movie franchise ever. Which sent me sidling over to the Wikipedia to see if this could possibly be true. And no, it’s not.
The F and the F is currently running somewhere between fifth and 10th, depending who’s the third
umpire. But these films, which kicked off in 2001 with a goodnatured yarn about an undercover cop infiltrating a gang of street racers, never really smelt like they had the moxie about them to go much beyond a trilogy at best.
So, hats off to all concerned for at least riding this whole dumberthan-a-bag-of-hammers pony all the way to the big leagues, miles ahead of Twilight, 50 Shades et al, to be mentioned in the same breath as James Bond, Star Wars and Harry bleedin’ Potter.
And now, Hobbs and Shaw, in which two late arrivals to the series (Hobbs arrived in episode five, Shaw in six. Yes, I looked that up on Wikipedia, too) team up to play out a classic buddy-cop action comedy, complete with ludicrous car stunts, some pretty risible dialogue, an overload of macho joshing and enough spurious armflexing to make the glory days of Schwarzenegger and Stallone look positively coy by comparison.
The plot – baddie-has-poisonthat-will-destroy-the-world – is straight out of the James Bond sale bin, but the execution is absolutely as it should be: good-natured, mostly ludicrous and delivering exactly what you paid your hardearned to see.
Also, unless there was a postcredits scene that I didn’t stick around for, Vin Diesel isn’t even in it. And if you don’t think that’s a bonus, then you just haven’t sat through as many iterations of Mrs Diesel’s boy Vin’s particular brand of fetid narcissism as I have.
Diesel may have been a likeable presence back in the early days of this franchise and the Pitch Black series, but he’s morphed into a bloated parody of himself these past few years.
Getting to the final scene of
Hobbs and Shaw without a single cameo from Diesel was probably worth a whole star on this review.
Without that leering mug to contend with, leads Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham are fine, obviously getting on well offcamera and bouncing off each other on it. Both actors can deliver a punchline just as accurately as they can a punch. With a script made up of not much more than one-liners and grunts, that’s probably just as well.
In the supports, Vanessa Kirby gets plenty to do as Statham’s equally arse-whoopin’ sister, Helen Mirren has a hoot as the siblings’ incarcerated mum and Eddie Marsan gets Slavic to the rhythm as a Russian doctor, complete with an accent that sounded about as authentic as a three rouble note.
But, Marsan being a serious thesp, was probably perfect. Oh yeah, and our very own Cliff Curtis pops up, in the film’s Samoa-set climax, as Johnson’s kid brother. With that talent and personality in the room, all I’m saying is the wrap party must have been a stunner.
As for Idris Elba, as the bad guy Johnson and Statham must battle, I just hope the ending left enough wiggle room for Elba to return. I really can’t imagine another actor around credibly beating up on The Rock, while still firing out gags like he’s being paid by the word.
I’ve never seen Elba in a film I didn’t like. And I figure that’s probably no coincidence.
So good on ya’, Hobbs and Shaw, you did what the trailer promised and more – you didn’t stint on the action or effects and you sent this hack home happy enough to have watched you. I couldn’t really ask for more.