Hobbs and Shaw (Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham) reluctantly join forces to try and find Shaw's sister Hattie (Vanessa Kirby), who is carrying a deadly virus in her bloodstream that will become active in 72 hours. Also trying to track down Hattie is technologically enhanced villain Brixton (Idris Elba), who intends to use the virus to cleanse the Earth of the weak.
With every subsequent Fast & Furious movie, the franchise has steered further and further away from its street racing roots, becoming more and more like any other mega-budget action series: full of incredible stunts, massive explosions and hard-hitting fights. Spin-off Hobbs & Shaw sees the F&F universe enter science fiction and fantasy territory: sci-fi because of the futuristic technology involved (which includes a transformer style motorbike ridden by its cyborg villain), and fantasy because of the impossible nature of the stunts which defy all the laws of physics. Oh, and a Samoan mechanic has the know-how to fix a high-tech computerised gizmo, the likes of which he would never have seen before. Magic has got to be involved somewhere!
The crazy action includes the following: a high speed chase through the streets of London during which both a car and the super-bike slide under not one but two moving trucks; an armoured buggy doing a 360 degree roll through the air, landing on the roof of a building; and an extremely silly finalé in which several vehicles are daisy-chained together to prevent a helicopter from escaping. It's cheesy over-the-top blockbuster nonsense designed to be as outrageously daft as possible, and might be reasonably fun, if it wasn't for the endless, supposedly comedic banter between its two stars, which results in a bloated runtime of well over two hours -- far too long for a film of this type.
With every subsequent Fast & Furious movie, the franchise has steered further and further away from its street racing roots, becoming more and more like any other mega-budget action series: full of incredible stunts, massive explosions and hard-hitting fights. Spin-off Hobbs & Shaw sees the F&F universe enter science fiction and fantasy territory: sci-fi because of the futuristic technology involved (which includes a transformer style motorbike ridden by its cyborg villain), and fantasy because of the impossible nature of the stunts which defy all the laws of physics. Oh, and a Samoan mechanic has the know-how to fix a high-tech computerised gizmo, the likes of which he would never have seen before. Magic has got to be involved somewhere!
The crazy action includes the following: a high speed chase through the streets of London during which both a car and the super-bike slide under not one but two moving trucks; an armoured buggy doing a 360 degree roll through the air, landing on the roof of a building; and an extremely silly finalé in which several vehicles are daisy-chained together to prevent a helicopter from escaping. It's cheesy over-the-top blockbuster nonsense designed to be as outrageously daft as possible, and might be reasonably fun, if it wasn't for the endless, supposedly comedic banter between its two stars, which results in a bloated runtime of well over two hours -- far too long for a film of this type.