Review
JAMIE EAST AT THE MOVIES
Fast & Furious: Hobbs and Shaw series delivers stunts so over the top they make jumping sharks appear tame
CALL the Guinness Book of Records – Hobbs & Shaw have destroyed more blacked-out Range Rovers than any movie in history.
The baddie’s vehicle of choice receives an extra level of pummelling in this Fast & Furious spin-off starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Jason Statham.
3
Vast swarming, convoys of the 4x4s go flying into the air, explode in balls of flames, crash into buildings and off cliffs.
But I wouldn’t want you to get the wrong impression about this action movie — it’s not all about blowing up black Range Rovers.
No, no, no . . . motorbikes, a helicopter, a McLaren sports car, a truck’s trailer, old school American trucks, smoke stacks, countless windows and a lab also get trashed.
So Fast & Furious fans don’t need to worry, the ninth movie in the series delivers stunts so over the top they make jumping sharks appear tame.
3
It’s what happens during the occasional breaks between action sequences where Hobbs & Shaw disappoints. At times the chat is slow and moderate rather than fast and furious.
In this story Diplomatic Security Service agent Luke Hobbs (The Rock) and British Special Forces assassin Deckard Shaw (Statham) must save the planet by preventing the spread of a deadly virus.
That virus is in the body of an MI6 agent played by Vanessa Kirby, the actress best known as Princess Margaret in The Crown.
Getting in their way is a cyborg Terminator-style baddie called Brixton, in the form of Idris Elba.
3
Both Elba and Kirby seem to thoroughly enjoy their first run out in the fun Fast & Furious franchise, lapping up every single ridiculous line, as do a couple of special guests who I have been asked not to name.
But I sense a little fatigue is setting in for Johnson and Statham.
Their characters are supposed to loathe each other, yet the jibes such as calling Shaw “Frodo” come across as gentle ribbing.
MOST READ IN TV & SHOWBIZ
To be fair, when Kirby has to deliver the line “I didn’t kill anybody” and Johnson has the hackneyed response “I know you didn’t” it must be hard for him to treat this as anything other than a handsome pay cheque.
What really ruined this generally entertaining romp, though, was letting the action run to more than two hours.
There are only so many Rovers I can watch being re-arranged in one afternoon.
Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw (12A) 128mins
★★★☆☆
Topics