This film is a divider, you're either going to love it, or you are just going to dismiss the fact that this film exists.
Ever since the dawning of the F and F franchise, each film has become more ridiculous as the budget and the stars have got bigger. The first film was about stealing DVD players, and now we have a bad guy who is enhanced by technology, a kind of Robocop/Terminator with a little G.I Joe thrown in for good measure, and it just never lets up until the final one liner.
Ever since Hobbs and Shaw first faced off, they have swapped smack talk and body blows as they've tried to take each other down.
When cyber-genetically enhanced anarchist Brixton gains control of an insidious bio-threat that could alter humanity forever - and bests a brilliant and fearless rogue MI6 agent, who just happens to be Shaw's sister - these two enemies must partner up to bring down their seemingly invincible foe.
If you were a fan of the buddy-cop sub genre that was rife in the eighties and nineties, then this has nostalgia written all over it. It resembles 1989's Tango and Cash more than any other film, as that film was purely tongue in cheek, never took itself seriously, and the stars were happy to send themselves up to get a laugh and to enhance the nonsensical narrative.
Statham and Johnson are clearly having lots of fun making this, and the first and final act are clearly the best parts of the film. When the pair are doing their separate things, it falters in the second act, which is a shame, because Elba's 'bad guy' is a true cinematic villain, full of speeches, protuberance, and envy, all the makings of a brilliant antagonist.
Add a couple of wonderful cameos, and Hobbs and Shaw is a fun action film that throws everything at the screen, hoping that something will stick, and most of it does.
It's a shame that most of the tentpole set pieces were offloaded on the spolierific trailers, but that really doesn't matter, as the final confrontation is pretty visceral and inventive, and one wishes fro once that it maybe would have been enhanced by the medium of 3D.
The film references The Rock, Escape from New York, G.I. Joe, The Terminator, and even Transformers in places, but it delivers exactly what you'd expect, a testosterone fuelled adventure that demands you take it with a big pinch of salt and just sit back and enjoy the ride.
Lots of fun, and instantly forgettable.
Ever since the dawning of the F and F franchise, each film has become more ridiculous as the budget and the stars have got bigger. The first film was about stealing DVD players, and now we have a bad guy who is enhanced by technology, a kind of Robocop/Terminator with a little G.I Joe thrown in for good measure, and it just never lets up until the final one liner.
Ever since Hobbs and Shaw first faced off, they have swapped smack talk and body blows as they've tried to take each other down.
When cyber-genetically enhanced anarchist Brixton gains control of an insidious bio-threat that could alter humanity forever - and bests a brilliant and fearless rogue MI6 agent, who just happens to be Shaw's sister - these two enemies must partner up to bring down their seemingly invincible foe.
If you were a fan of the buddy-cop sub genre that was rife in the eighties and nineties, then this has nostalgia written all over it. It resembles 1989's Tango and Cash more than any other film, as that film was purely tongue in cheek, never took itself seriously, and the stars were happy to send themselves up to get a laugh and to enhance the nonsensical narrative.
Statham and Johnson are clearly having lots of fun making this, and the first and final act are clearly the best parts of the film. When the pair are doing their separate things, it falters in the second act, which is a shame, because Elba's 'bad guy' is a true cinematic villain, full of speeches, protuberance, and envy, all the makings of a brilliant antagonist.
Add a couple of wonderful cameos, and Hobbs and Shaw is a fun action film that throws everything at the screen, hoping that something will stick, and most of it does.
It's a shame that most of the tentpole set pieces were offloaded on the spolierific trailers, but that really doesn't matter, as the final confrontation is pretty visceral and inventive, and one wishes fro once that it maybe would have been enhanced by the medium of 3D.
The film references The Rock, Escape from New York, G.I. Joe, The Terminator, and even Transformers in places, but it delivers exactly what you'd expect, a testosterone fuelled adventure that demands you take it with a big pinch of salt and just sit back and enjoy the ride.
Lots of fun, and instantly forgettable.