Fast & Furious . . . is both! [MOVIE REVIEW]

The story behind the newest edition of this series, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw is relatively simple. A virus which threatens all humankind is up for grabs. Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) team-up to keep the virus out of the hands of mechanical man, Brixton (Idris Elba). Brixton represents a group that wants to use the deadly serum to weed out those they believe to be inferior. The situation is complicated by the fact that the virus is housed in a capsule implanted in the arm of a British agent, named Hattie (Vanessa Kirby), who also happens to be Shaw’s sister.

Fast & Furious is fabulous. There’s frankly not much new about the storyline. Hobbs and Shaw don’t like each other. It’s not that unusual to have a conflict between guys on the same side. Of course, there has to be eye candy which Vanessa Kirby provides. Like all films of this genre, there’s punching and kicking that would break faces, arms, and legs in real life but of course, in the movies, characters walk away from these battles unscathed. Finally, there are the must-have daredevil car and trucks feats.

The director, David Leitch takes all of this we have seen before and makes it seem new.

There’s a lot of verbiage in this film. Much of it is tied to the bickering between Hobbs and Shaw. There are also lines that are difficult to disgust. When confronted with an unexpected situation, Hobbs says, “What the fresh turkey hell!” If I were Johnson, I would have used my prerogative as a star to rephrase or skip that line all together!

The action is indescribable and is simply a feast for the eyes.

The cast is exceptional. Johnson, Statham, and Elba meld together in a way that leads to the excellent execution of this script. However, Hollywood has been criticized for sexism and ageism especially pertaining to women. Deckard and Hattie are siblings. Childhood photos show that he’s five to six years older than her. However, Statham is actually 21 years older than, Kirby, his onscreen little sister.

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw gets an A- for cast diversity. It is strongly diverse except for the absence of prominent appearances by Hispanics.

The film is estimated to have cost a whopping $200 million to produce. It should make that back and more! It’s rated PG-13 and is a lengthy two hours and 18 minutes. Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw gets a See It rating!