Hobbs & Shaw Review

The new Fast & Furious spinoff Hobbs & Shaw starring Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham is a brainless and unimaginative attempt at entertaining action. One massive testosterone-fueled cliché that’s frustratingly fatuous and bloated. The consistently strong special effects and occasionally well-executed set pieces are constantly burdened by the asinine dialogue, terrible acting, and unforgivably lazy editing. The film follows such an unoriginal and generic structure that it becomes exhaustingly predictable and unenjoyable quickly, leaving the film to rely only on its childish humor and weightless action that’s completely devoid of both tension and suspense. At no point does director David Leitch inject any of his style or personality, resulting in a film that is as uninspired visually as it is narratively.

Hobbs & Shaw follows the titular duo of American diplomatic agent Hobbs and British military outcast Shaw, two elite operatives and sworn enemies who can’t be in the same room without trying to kill one another. When a genetically-enhanced anarchist named Brixton infiltrates a heavily guarded government base to gain control of a destructive bioweapon that threatens the population of the world and can alter humanity forever, it forces M16 agent and Shaw’s sister Hattie to inject the bio-threat into herself to keep it from Brixton momentarily. With Shaw’s sister in danger and the world threatened, Hobbs & Shaw must put aside their hate for each other to team up and stop someone much more threatening.

Not long into Hobbs & Shaw, the film has already shown everything that it has to offer - one-dimensional characters who do nothing but sling playground humor back and forth, awaiting the next uncreative action sequence to begin. It’s a remarkably bland structure that feels never-ending. Over two hours in length, Hobbs & Shaw is so unnecessarily long that by the time the film reaches its abysmal last twenty minutes the viewer is likely to not even care what’s going on.

Hobbs & Shaw succeeds in its visual effects and choreography, but the editing and stale direction are far too distracting. The movie is host to a plethora of continuity errors, the night will magically turn into day and objects teleport around scenes with each cut. The whole film is full of lazy and inexcusable problems that something with a budget as big as this one shouldn’t have. Chris Morgan’s dreadful script gives nothing for the cast to work with, creating many moments where you’re laughing at the film and not with it.

Other than some solid over-the-top sequences and wonderful locales, the overall result disappoints far more than it entertains. Comically bad creative decisions and a complete lack of depth in characters, narrative, and filmmaking make Hobbs & Shaw a long and forgettable action movie.

An abysmally childish and bloated screenplay partnered with lazy directing and awful editing completely squanders the few exciting moments of Hobbs & Shaw, resulting in a long and less than memorable action romp.

Produced By: Universal Pictures
Runtime: 136 minutes
Rating: PG-13