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Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw take the action away from the regular heroes of the franchise, Dominic Toretto and team, to focus on two bickering alpha males. So we have Luke Hobbs, played by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, and Deckard Shaw, played by Jason Statham, play the main leads this time. Vanessa Kirby of The Crown fame is the female lead, rogue MI6 agent Hattie, who is also Shaw's sister. Idris Elba is the main antagonist, Brixton, a super-powered former agent who works for a shadowy organisation. Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw Movie Review: Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham Give the Finger to Physics in This Slick, Entertaining Action-Comedy.
Returning to the titular characters, Hobbs had made his debut in the franchise in Fast Five, and thereby, appearing in every F&F movie. Deckard Shaw, meanwhile, appeared first in the post-credit scene of Fast & Furious 6, before being the main antagonist of Furious 7. He later turned to the good side in the eighth instalment, The Fate of the Furious.
In Fate of the Furious, the blow-hot-blow-cold bromance between Hobbs and Shaw, and the easy chemistry between The Rock and The Stat were the highlights of the film. Cashing in on that, the makers went for a spinoff focussing on this duo's adventures, and giving David Leitch (John Wick, Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2) the task of making an entertaining film.
The result is a high-octane action affair that does justice to the craziness of the franchise, while relying on the easy charm of the main leads. And like nearly every film in the franchise, there are plenty of WTF moments in Hobbs & Shaw, that may make no sense but make for cheesy fun nevertheless! Needless to say, HUGE SPOILERS AHEAD!
#1 'Time in a Bottle'
The opening sequence involves Hattie and her MI6 team loading the virus on a heavily armoured truck with Jim Croce's 'Time in a Bottle' playing in the background, just before Brixton attacks them. The problem is two-fold - firstly, the song has no relevance here. Secondly, how the heck did the makers think of using the song again after it was so brilliantly utilised in X-Men: Days of Future Past?
#2 Did Hattie Just MI-2'ed Herself?
After Brixton annihilates her entire team and chases after her, Hattie, not wanting to hand it over to him, injects the virus within herself, thus becoming the human MacGuffin of the movie. Interestingly, this is exactly the plot of Mission: Impossible 2 where Ethan Hunt's girlfriend injects herself with a virus so that the bad guy doesn't get his hands on it.
#3 Brixton's Auto-Driving Bike!
The Fast & Furious franchise is filled with some mind-boggling cars and vehicles, but Brixton's self-driving bike wins the race, hands down!
#4 Damn! Deadpool!
In a time where every info about a film gets leaked online before release, the makers of Hobbs & Shaw have to be lauded for keeping two big cameos secretive. One of them is Ryan Reynolds, who had worked with the director in Deadpool 2. He appears as federal agent Locke who is obsessed with Hobbs and convinces him for the mission. Interestingly, Reynolds' Deadpool 2 co-star Rob Delaney ('Peter') also has a cameo as a British agent who hires Shaw for the mission.
#5 Prepubescent Harry Potter!
Hobbs and Shaw trade insults nearly the entire runtime of the movie, to the point of being annoying. Though, some of their banter has its moments. Like, when they meet first in the film, Hobbs trolls Shaw by saying he is annoyed with his "nasally, prepubescent Harry Potter voice"! Don't know who got insulted more - Deckard Shaw or Potterheads!
#6 Fall-Proof Hobbs!
Remember how Luke Hobbs fell from a high-rise tower in Furious 7 and was only left with a fractured hand? In this one, Hobbs does a similar trick and ends up with no scratch at all! Why do you need 'Black Superman' when you have Hobbs acting like walking-talking armour of vibranium!
#7 Hobbs Grabs Brixton's Man Riding a Bike From Inside a Car!
With every stunt scene in the movie, every law of motion took a rope, made a noose and hung themselves on it. Like this scene in the film, where Hobbs, Hattie and Shaw, riding inside a McLaren are chased by Brixton and his men in the streets of London. When a goon comes riding towards them in a breakneck speed, Hobbs who is also moving at a similar speed, breaks the windowpane of the car to grab the biker and then smash him on a wall, on their way to escape.
#8 The Truck Stunt
In a scene seemingly inspired by both Don and Dhoom 3, Shaw drives his McLaren under two trucks. Not wanting to be left behind, Brixton attempts a similar trick with his bike, barely managing to escape from getting crushed between the wheels!
#9 Shaw Randomly Accuses Hobbs of Trying to Impress Hattie
Sure, Hobbs and Hattie do feel something between themselves, but they never display any such emotion in front of Shaw. So when Shaw accuses Hobbs of trying to get close to his sister on board their flight to Ukraine, it makes no damn sense. Unless, the intention was to create unnecessary banter and make way for the next thing here...
#10 So Kevin Hart is Here Too!
The Rock's co-star in Jumanji series and Central Intelligence appears as an air marshal on board that same flight, who is bothered by Hobbs and Shaw's bickering. Late,r he expresses his desire to be a part of their team and even helps them get transported to Hawaii.
#11 Shaw Drives On Metal Scaffolding
The Ukraine chase sequence is the most OTT entertaining scene in the film that would make George Miller proud. Among the many WTF moments in the scene, the best is when Shaw drives his ATV across a metal scaffolding alongside a building, giving a big FU to Physics!
#12 Roman Reigns is There... and He Doesn't Speak A Word!
WWE star Roman Reigns plays one of Hobbs' many brothers settled in Samoa, Hawaii. And that's it! The man doesn't even have a dialogue!
#13 The Choppy Editing
The hand-on-hand fight sequence between Shaw, Hobbs and his brothers with Brixton and his men was teased in the trailers and was expected to be an awesome scene. But the movie takes the fight way too seriously, despite the garishness of it all and then further ruins with fast cuts and very choppy editing.
#14 The Helicopter Stunt
This one will definitely rank high in the top five of F&F's most absurd stunts. When Brixton carries Hattie away on his chopper, Hobbs chains the helicopter to his jeep that is driven by Shaw. Brixton, using the chopper, tries to drag their vehicle away down the cliff. Hobb's brothers, who have been following them, attach their vehicles, one by one to Shaw's, to form a gridlock and keep the chopper down.
#15 Hobbs Does a Captain America
Remember the scene in Captain America: Civil War when Steven Rogers holds on to Bucky's chopper and the railing of the helipad to prevent the former from flying away? Hobbs does something similar here, as he uses his super-strength to hold on to the broken chain tied to Brixton's chopper and the jeep.
#16 Brixton Forgets His Own Super-Strength
After Brixton's chopper and Shaw's vehicle fall down the ravine, naturally everyone survives. Brixton challenges both Hobbs and Shaw for a fistfight and easily manages to overpower them. The heroes realise that Brixton can read the moves of the man who is attacking him from the front, and not from anywhere. Using that info, one of them attack him from the front while the other attacks him from the back, making them easy to beat him. Though there was a tiny detail that was overlooked - Brixton is also supposed to be super-strong. Perhaps, like the villain, even the makers forgot about it.
#17 Locke Trolls Game of Thrones
In the first mid-credit scene, Locke, after ambushing unknown assassins in a secret place, calls Hobbs to tell him about another mission. And in the middle of that, he began to rant about how bad the last season of Game of Thrones was! Now, most of GoT fans hated how the show ended, but who thought it would get trolled on the big screen like this! Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw: Mid and Post-Credit Scenes of Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham-Starrer REVEALED (SPOILER ALERT).
#18 Locke Stabs a Man With A Brick!
Earlier in the film, when Locke briefs Hobbs about the mission, he wonders how Hattie (actually Brixton) manages to kill one of her men by stabbing him with a brick. In the second mid-credit scene, Locke reveals to Hobbs that it is actually possible to stab a man with a brick, making us wonder if this man is dangerously crazy!
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 02, 2019 11:00 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
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