Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw

Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw – Luke Hobbs and Deckard Shaw are once again reluctantly forced to work together to clear the name of Shaw’s sister, Hattie, when she is framed for stealing a virus that could wipe out millions of people. With Hattie having injected the virus into herself in order to stop it being used by terrorists, the three face a race against time to extract the virus and stop it spreading but with terrorist Brixton Lore, who is part man/part machine wanting the virus to spread, can they defeat his superhuman powers?

Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw (2019) – Director: David Leitch

By Source (WP:NFCC#4), Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=59828436

Rating: 12

Running Length: 137 mins

Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Idris Elba

Genre: Action

REVIEW – FAST & FURIOUS: HOBBS & SHAW

What do we expect from a Fast & Furious movie? High art? Thought-provoking drama? Nah, we expect (and want) fun, unbelievable stunts and wall-to-wall action. So, spinoff movie, ‘Hobbs & Shaw’ doesn’t just give us much of the same but also adds a superhuman cyborg to up the ante. Johnson and Statham (as Hobbs and Shaw, respectively) are both likable leads and the chemistry between them is wonderfully punchy (pun intended).

While the usual damsel in distress storyline is ever-present, it is nice to see a major female character (Hattie, played by Vanessa Kirby) who can hold her own against the men with her fighting prowess, bravery, intellect and cunning. What often lets down action movies such as ‘Hobbs & Shaw’ is the inability to end them, and, with around 4 such potential endings the action fatigue starts to kick in. However (although we want to avoid spoilers here) it is genuinely nice to see Dwayne Johnson in his element and it’s something only a ridiculously over the top film like this can provide.

Having a superhuman cyborg may be a totally unrealistic addition to a non-superhero story, they have managed to keep things (sort of) within the realms of believability and Idris Elba’s acting chops actually makes the character as real as possible. So, ‘Hobbs & Shaw’ won’t be everyone’s cup of tea but for anyone wanting dumb, popcorn guzzling action with plenty of humour, this film won’t disappoint.

CONTENT – IS ‘FAST & FURIOUS: HOBBS & SHAW’ SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN?

A group of MI6 agents are attacked and all but one are killed, mostly by being short at point blank range. Some of these killings happen directly in the foreground and although there is no blood, the callousness could be upsetting for some kids. After the initial carnage, agents who are injured but not yet dead are each murdered.

A woman in a revealing, metallic bikini walks through a party, the camera stays focused on her bottom for around 10 seconds.

There are numerous fist fights throughout the movie where heavy blows are exchanged. While these fights are brutal in nature, no blood or gore is shown and suffering is never lingered upon.

When discussing a presumed killer, a character tells another ‘She stabbed one guy through the chest with a brick’. This is said in front of a child (who isn’t disturbed by this) and the dialogue lingers on this for several seconds in a comedic way.

A character is subjected to painful medical procedures, in one scene, only his face is shown as he groans and cries out in pain. Later, his back is shown which open down the entire spine which is made up of machinery. Other than the edges of the wounds being red, there is little blood or gore.

A character is given an assumed name which when said out loud contains a curse word, of course this is then said several times.

A character who is in fear for his life goes to his car which is parked in a secluded area. When he turns on the headlights, an evil character is illuminated and stares directly at him. This could be frightening for some kids.

A character is chained up and, in order to intimidate him, another character shoots near him. He is clearly terrified but his fear isn’t lingered upon.

A woman walks through a large house where several men are tied up and have clearly been tortured. They are identified as being Russian mobsters and they either seem defiant or have bags over their heads so fear and suffering is minimal.

CAN I SEE A CLIP?

VERDICT – IS ‘FAST & FURIOUS: HOBBS & SHAW’ FOR KIDS?

Dumb but ultimately fun and exciting, ‘Hobbs & Shaw’ is wall to wall action with likeable leads that gives you exactly what you want. Despite the content not being too strong, we recommend ‘Hobbs & Shaw’ for kids aged 10 and over due to the excessive cursing all the way through.

• Violence: 3/5 (lots of fight scenes but little blood, gore or suffering shown)
• Emotional Distress: 0/5
• Fear Factor: 1/5
• Sexual Content: 1/5
• Bad Language: 5/5 (frequent moderate cursing throughout, one strong word is used by two characters simultaneously and may be repeatable. A character mouths a curse word at another and uses an obscene hand gesture to accompany it)
• Dialogue: 2/5
• Other Notes: Deals with themes of rivalry, terrorism, teamwork, accepting one’s past and saving the world.

Words by Laura Record