Genre:
Action, Adventure, Comedy
Produced by:
Jason Statham, Dwayne Johnson, Chris Morgan, Hiram Garcia
Directed by:
David Leitch
Written by:
Chris Morgan, Drew Pearce
Production Company: Universal Pictures
Starring: Dwayne
Johnson, Jason Statham, Idris Elba, Vanessa Kirby, Helen Mirren, Teresa
Mahoney, Eiza Gonzalez
Runtime: 136 minutes
SYNOPSIS:
America’s finest operative Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and Great Britain’s
finest Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) must
resume their unlikely alliance when Brixton Lore (Idris Elba), a cyber-genetically enhanced terrorist hot on the
trail of a deadly virus, poses a new threat to the entire world and their masculinity. The mission becomes more personal when they
discover that missing MI6 agent Hattie (Vanessa
Kirby), who just so happens to be Shaw’s sister, is involved. Safe to say,
tracking her down and persuading her to join their plight might be important to
their cause.
REVIEW:
How far have the Fast and the Furious come since its debut in 2001. What began as a movie about street
racing has now evolved into one of the biggest franchises in the world. Despite already having an established
star like Vin Diesel early in their
books, it was actually another actor who made these movies the
moneymaking machine it is today: Dwayne “the
Rock” Johnson.
For awhile, the first four installments were
only successful amongst niche audience, before Dwayne Johnson’s star power took Fast Five (2011) and its subsequent sequels into bona-fide
Hollywood blockbuster level.
It also paved the way for other big names
to join the party, especially action star Jason
Statham. Appearing in three movies so far (including a post-credit uncredited
appearance in Fast & Furious 6
(2013)), Statham has already made as
much of an impression as Johnson. A
villainous turn in Furious 7 (2015)
was then followed by sharing a surprisingly entertaining chemistry with Johnson in the Fate of the Furious (2017), the latter of which was so
entertaining that it deserved far more screentime than the all-too-brief one
they’d gotten.
And so, it is inevitable that Universal
would capitalize on the duo’s popularity for their next Fast & Furious movie. Ditching its proven ensemble cast formula
for a two-hander, the studio decides to stretch out Johnson and Statham’s mismatched
dynamics into feature-length with the franchise’s first ever spin-off movie Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs &
Shaw, a move which got long-time cast members and fans alike admittedly
mad. A highly publicized feud between Tyrese
Gibson and Johnson ensued, with
the former accusing the latter of breaking up the family for accepting the gig,
which then escalated into the fans’ negative perception that this movie might
be just a shameless ploy to use the brand for cash grab.
Fast and furious in its own goofy way, Hobbs & Shaw is a pure popcorn blast
of dumb fun that manages to prove its naysayers wrong. Here, logic and franchise
continuity take a backseat and in its place an energetic exercise in suspension
of disbelief that doesn’t mind whether anything that is happening on the screen
makes sense or not. Does it really matter if the movie lacks any real narrative
connective tissue with the other movies? No. Does it really matter if the movie
features a quippy, likable action hero who was once known as a murderer in
previous Fast & Furious iterations?
Not in this movie at least. Does it really matter if the laws of gravity don’t
seem to apply to these characters? Hell no.
In other words, this spin-off knows
exactly what kind of movie it is, and rarely does it every try to be anything
that it isn’t. It is a big-budget live-action cartoon that is not afraid to fully
embrace its own silliness, which is a welcoming change of pace, especially
coming off of the tonal inconsistency of the previous Fast & Furious offering the
Fate of the Furious. In fact, this two-man show feels much more like a
gleeful ode to the 1980’s action blockbusters than it is a continuation to the Fast & Furious mythology, capturing
the high camp of the Commando (1985)-era
action, with some self-aware humor and classic superhero twist to spare.
Though the movie still retains its old tradition
of fast cars, Hobbs & Shaw is
just the filmmakers’ excuse to integrate them into sheer comic book ridiculousness,
to delightfully implausible result. As far as the franchise’s universe is
concerned, anything goes. But at the same time, the mindless action is done
with a considerable amount of craft. Directed by stuntman-turned-filmmaker David Leitch, responsible for the
creation of flashy modern action classics like John Wick (2014), Atomic
Blonde (2017) and Deadpool 2
(2018), style has always been the bread and butter in all of his previous work,
and more of the same is at full display here. Not only is this Fast & Furious outing a triumph in
the franchise’s long laundry list of impressive blockbuster set-pieces, but
also practical action. It’s both a special effect and stunt extravaganza that plays
to Leitch’s strengths.
Most notably, the filmmaker’s surefooted
handling of the hand-to-hand combat sequences brings to mind his stunt-driven
exertions in mid-budget action fares like John
Wick and Atomic Blonde. Leitch’s attention to detail lends such
set-pieces with the sort of thrills and entertainment value that’s rarely found
in a franchise too preoccupied with car action. In fact, the whole movie feels
like a non-stop orgy of meticulously staged gunplay and fist fights in which the
cars are often secondary to the equation. What it lacks in intensity due to its
PG-13 confines, it more than makes up for with its slickness.
And it doesn’t take much time for Hobbs & Shaw to settle into its John Wick/Atomic Blonde-esque rhythm.
In its opening sequence, the titular duo
is reintroduced through a couple of split-screen hand-to-hand fight scenes that
not only highlight each of these stars’ action skills, being Johnson’s brute force and Statham’s icy calm precision, but also
the level of creativity in regards to the variety of unconventional weapons
used. Here, Hobbs and Shaw make the most of a tattoo gun and a champagne bottle
respectively to take out the goons while looking like a badass doing it.
Much of the first half is rife with such
kind of close-quarter action, which has enough time to get Kirby’s character Hattie in on the act. There is a scene where she is
confronted by Hobbs, which leads into a well-choreographed fight that involves
the use of a motorcycle helmet, a wig and a particular martial art move pulled
straight out of Black Widow’s copybook (or perhaps, most spy heroine’s
copybook), perfectly highlighting Kirby’s
badass, femme fatale agility. It’s the same ingredients but the new type of
weapons and fighting style help distinguish itself from other scenes. Leitch’s frenetic camerawork and editing,
underscored by the fast-paced rock music soundtrack, inject the scene with so
much adrenaline rush.
Also, he has proven to be as well-suited when it comes to the standard-issue Fast & Furious spectacle-driven action.
What holds the movie’s excessive Michael
Bay-level mayhem together in such a way that make them seem comprehensible
is Leitch’s emphasis on visual
coherence. He does not hesitate to linger on a shot longer than typical action
movie filmmakers to allow the audience more time to savor the gravity-defying
bombast, which, as a result, never feels as tiresome as Bay’s manically-edited repertoire.
The second half of Hobbs & Shaw is, after all, the cinematic equivalent of a child
smashing their action figures together, which is perhaps the type of attitude
the franchise sorely needs. Known for redefining the term “jumping the shark”
for the better with the Dwayne Johnson-era
movies, Leitch’s Fast & Furious rendition might have
just outdone its predecessors, continuously redefining the aforementioned term
in ways even unimaginable by its already silly standards.
Dwayne
Johnson’s
action hero antics throughout this entire movie alone is essentially his middle
finger to physics, whether he’s rappelling down some fifty stories-high skyscraper
and landing perfectly on top of one of the goons in his first try or grabbing a
motorcycle-riding goon by the shirt and ramming him into a wall in a high speed
chase nonetheless or, probably the most absurd of them all, pulling a helicopter
down with his bare hands. Leitch has
equally pushed the transportation-themed set-pieces to its most absolute,
outrageous limits, whether it’s a motorcycle crashing into a double-decker bus
(while leaving a hole in its wake) or a bunch of tow trucks dangling from a
chain while attached to a helicopter.
As far as idea and execution go, Hobbs & Shaw has taken even the
franchise’s most gonzo sensibilities further than any everyday Saturday morning
cartoon ever did, rendering the level of action-packed tomfoolery in the
Roadrunner/Willie E. Coyote skits that clearly inspire these movies’ insane
stunts gritty and realistic in comparison. Leitch’s
signature flair for visceral thrills and over-stylized theatricality eventually
helps maintain this movie’s credibility stunt-wise without losing the
franchise’s original cartoonish appeal.
Speaking of cartoonish, Hobbs & Shaw’s bad guy is, unlike in
the past Fast & Furious movies,
not a human being (yup, the series has reached that point). In Elba’s character Brixton Lore, the bad
guy is instead an archetypal comic book supervillain, meaning a cybernetically
enhanced terrorist who is so broadly-drawn, so sledgehammer-to-the-head obvious
character-wise, but in an entertaining, wink-wink kind of way. Chris Morgan and Drew Pearce’s script achieves
such feat by leaning hard into familiar genre tropes, purposely treading a
well-trodden path of inspirations from other super villains to assemble its own
super villain story.
Brixton feels more like a pop culture
pastiche than he is a character, with an arc that resembles slapped-together parts
of references to other movies and comic book literature. There are certain plot
details that are reminiscent of the Terminator
movies, ranging from bare bone ideas such as a killer cyborg and an artificial
intelligence company that creates and employs such kind of cyborg (with Etheon being
just another variation of Skynet) to the deeply specific like a near-immaculate
recreation of the T-800’s POV shot for Brixton’s POV where Leitch’s visual choices evoke those of James Cameron’s. There is also an attempt at making his back story
seem personal to its heroes in a manner that mirrors Captain America and Winter
Soldier dynamics. Star Wars then
springs to mind when the script entertains the idea of a bad guy serving under an
all-powerful, elusive badder bad guy (via a disembodied voice), much like Darth
Vader and Emperor Palpatine’s relationship. If that’s not enough, there is even
a point in the movie where, in his own words, Brixton proclaims himself to be black
Superman, as if the character acknowledges the absurdity of his own arc.
Here, Morgan and Pearce’s fanboyish treatment of Brixton seems so unpretentious, approaching
its exuberantly larger-than-life big baddie with rightfully sensationalist
sensibilities.
And that lack of pretensions is also evident
in Hobbs & Shaw’s sense of humor.
It maximizes its 1980s mismatched couple comedic angle and big egos to its
fullest, fiercest potential, further aided by a script that’s filled with action
hero-style wisecracks and one-liners
such as “a nice cold can of whoop-ass” or “champagne problem”, just to name a
few, that’s equal-parts cheesy, funny and somehow tailor-made only for men with
muscle. The testosterone-fuelled banter between Hobbs and Shaw, which
culminates into them hurling “Yo Mama”-esque playground insults and macho
glances at each other non-stop, make for the strongest point in the movie.
Morgan and Pearce have enough room to include some
self-referential jokes, taking aim at the controversial Games of Thrones (2011-2019) series finale. As always in these
comedies, size jokes do matter, and there is also a double entendre gag the
movie keeps coming back to involving the two that runs even until the
post-credits scene (yes, they’re doing a Marvel), so make sure to say and sit
through the many laugh-out loud mid-credit scenes featuring a famous celebrity
cameo. In terms of celebrity cameos, they are just as star-studded as the
movie’s already star-studded main cast, consisting not only one of the lead actors’
frequent collaborators, but even to a certain extent its director. Fortunately,
the cameos never feel in any way distracting, as Leitch has picked just the right celebrities to strengthen as well
as add new comedic flavor to the mix.
In regards to the plot though, Hobbs & Shaw is an incoherent mess.
Morgan and Pearce’s script here crams far too many ideas down its throat, without
even bothering to give each of them the sufficient time to develop.
Although this spin-off attempts to stand
on its own, it cannot quite decide what it wants to be. On the one hand, it’s an
old-fashioned buddy cop comedy starring Dwayne
Johnson and Jason Statham. On
the other, it is still a Fast &
Furious movie, with fast cars and talks about family. Not to mention that
there is also the matter of a superhero movie stuck in this blender. It is a confusing
mishmash of disparate ideas that could never quite come together as a cohesive
whole.
Amongst them, oddly enough, it stumbles with
the familiar Fast & Furious element.
There’s an entire sequence that takes place in Samoa which would justify its
inclusion in the franchise’s universe, but not in the universe the rest of Hobbs & Shaw is building. In that
same sequence, the writers attempt to instill some thematic depth with its
familial and anti-technology message that’s dealt in a rather ham-fisted way.
It also doesn’t help that this exact
incoherent plot is the kind that’s been recycled countless times. In fact, Hobbs & Shaw’s main globetrotting
spy plot has echoes of Mission:
Impossible 2 (2000), albeit in a way that’s closer to ripping off than
honoring. Extending beyond just a rough outline, a lot of the significant plot
details in Morgan and Pearce’s script seem to take the same steps
as Robert Towne in his Mission: Impossible script. As the plot
unfolds, the 2019-era script continuously exposes itself to its semi-blatant
similarities to the nineteen year old script, to the point where these two
movies start to blend together into one on the screen.
Like in Mission: Impossible 2, this movie’s MacGuffin also involves a deadly
virus. And also, Hattie makes the sort of important character decision in
relation to this virus that (mild spoiler for Mission: Impossible 2) is reminiscent of Thandie Newton’s character Nyah Nordoff-Hall’s actions. Let’s not forget
that the script even introduces a cheesy romantic subplot involving an
exchanging of witty spy banters and words of poetic wisdom from its own Ethan
Hunt Hobbs and Hunt girl Hattie that adds nothing to the movie. Throughout the proceedings,
it tries way too hard in aping everything a Mission:
Impossible movie has done before, without ever carving an identity of its
own.
Same problem with the much-maligned Mission: Impossible 2, Hattie’s
decision, like Nyah’s, instead reduces such a lively femme fatale to being a
mere plot device. A half-baked familial connection with Deckard Shaw aside, her
real function to the story is to remind other characters and the audience on
the importance of its unimportant MacGuffin. In that case, she holds so much
power in regards to where the narrative pendulum swings that she could have
singlehandedly stopped the movie in the second act, if only plot conveniences
hadn’t interfered. Without spoiling anything, she would later wield her power
in a third act that allows a David v. Goliath fight between some ordinary men
and super humans to become a fairer fight. There’s not that much on paper beyond
that in the way of her characterization.
Fortunately, Hobbs & Shaw manages to navigate past its narrative wobbles
via the sheer charisma of its cast. Dwayne
Johnson and Jason Statham fully
commits to every cheesy stunts and one-liners the script asks of them, in the
most suitably scenery-chewing way. Separately, Johnson’s very American and Statham’s
British brand of ruggedness inject the humor and cool action hero moments with
much-needed burst of fun. Like every buddy cop movie, together, they make for
some dynamite pairing, in a manner that renders insult comedy classy.
Amongst the new additions, Idris Elba and Vanessa Kirby are the few who make the lasting impression. Elba is having a ball playing
supervillain Brixton Lore, easily blending physical finesse with an equally scenery-chewing
performance so deserving of the black Superman moniker. Picking up from where
she left off in Mission: Impossible – Fallout
(2018), Kirby is tailor-made for the
role of MI6 agent Hattie Shaw, imbuing her with the same sort of British
elegance, femme fatale athleticism and witty humor as her Mission: Impossible character White Widow to add not only fresh
dynamic to the franchise, but also the relationship between Hobbs and Shaw.
CONCLUSION:
Fast
& Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw overcomes its all-too-familiar plot and
uneven genre mishmash with another plain dumb, fun popcorn entertainment
courtesy of Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham’s electric chemistry,
insane action spectacles and an equally insane amount of celebrity cameos.
Score: 7.5/10
No comments:
Post a Comment