By I’ve never seen a Fast and the Furious movie in my life, and about five minutes ago I had the thought that maybe I should change that. Skipping ahead to when Dwayne Johnson joins the party, of course.
Hobbs & Shaw (officially: Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw) is being billed as a spin-off-but-still-a-sequel from The Fate of the Furious, or the eighth film of the speedster series for those not keeping count. Agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and rogue special forces guy Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) are forced to shake hands after their previous scuffle and team up against Brixton Lore (Idris Elba), a genetically-enhanced terrorist after a secret held by Hattie (Vanessa Kirby), Shaw’s sister. There are cars in this movie?
Look, I really, honestly do admire The Rock, completely un-ironically. But more often than not I find the studios just throw the affable giant in these tentpole films that suffer problems of their own, regardless of whose face is plastered on the poster (Rampage was sweet though). Yet here I am watching the above trailer and grinning like a madman.
This looks hilarious! This looks absurd!
It’s very revealing and a bit too long as far as trailers go, but we get goons dragged out of moving sports cars, Idris Elba’s face on huge digital billboards, and a subplot seemingly embracing Dwayne Johnson’s Samoan heritage. It’s really The Odd Couple that 2019 needs.
Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw releases August 2nd, 2019.