The ninth installment in the action adventure movie franchise Fast and Furious first started in 2001 and the first spin-off movie, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw is a surprisingly entertaining action film deriving from a mostly cheesy and popcorn blockbuster movie series and is successfully able to set itself apart as a result of the charismatic rapport between the two main protagonist who themselves have starred in previous Fast and Furious movies. The plot follows the American government secret agent Luke Hobbs, played by Dwayne Johnson, and his one-time nemesis the British government secret agent Deckard Shaw, played by Jason Statham, who are forced to team up to fight a vast criminal organization and its new mechanically weaponized soldier Brixton Lore, played by the always terrific Idris Elba. They work with Shaw’s estranged sister Hattie, played by Vanessa Kirby, who is also a British spy falsely suspected of stealing a powerful biological weapon developed by the same evil organization that hired Brixton. All three team up to prevent the use of the deadly weapon known as Snowflake that could kill millions of people around the world. At the same time, they have to fight off the super powerful Brixton that is practically invulnerable because of the technology implanted in his body. Like the previous movies, there are elaborate car chases and spectacular action sequences that make it a typical action movie. The climax of the film takes them to Luke Hobbs’ home country of Samoa where he tries to reconnect with his estranged family in order finally defeat the threat posed by Brixton’s organization. What follows is a explosive battle sequence that involves traditional Samoan weapons instead of the generic gun battle. Overall, I found it to be a slightly more than just your stereotypical action flick that had elements of humanity all created by the terrific chemistry between all of the actors.
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