If you were to tell me back in 2001 that a simple action film about cops and robbers would’ve spawn several sequels and now a spin-off and became one of the most profitable movie franchises in Hollywood, I would’ve laughed in your face. But almost 20 years later, that’s exactly what happened. Dwayne Johnson’s Hobbs and Jason Statham’s Shaw both appeared in the last two FAST & FURIOUS films and with a good chemistry in the last film, the big wigs at Universal Studios decided to milk the franchise even more by making a movie about them.

When a group of MI6 agents decided break into a secure area to steal a deadly virus called Snowflake from some very bad people, they were interrupted by another set of bad guys and to prevent the bad guys from getting the virus, MI6 group’s leader Hattie (Venessa Kirby) decided to inject the virus into her body. This of course upsets the bad guys’ leader Lore (Idris Elba), a man with the speed and strength of a super human and in fact he refers to himself as Black Superman. Hattie being some kind of a super spy herself, was able to escape from Lore and his men. Now on the run not just from the bad buys but her own agency and the CIA, Hattie is going to need some help in order to survive.

Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) now lives a simple life with his daughter in Los Angeles. When his old CIA agent pal shows up (a famous face cameo) and ask him to go to London and track down Hattie and the Snowflake virus, Hobbs wasn’t interested. Of course, he changed his mind when his pal said the virus is very contagious and will wiped out everyone on earth if it ends up on the wrong hands. Once he landed in London, Hobbs runs into someone he doesn’t like very much, Shaw (Jason Statham). As it turns out, Shaw was also recruited by the CIA to track down the virus and Hattie. But Shaw comes willingly because of personal reason, Hattie is his sister. After some bickering, Hobbs and Shaw located Hattie but so did Lore and his men. What follows is a chase that spans across the globe. Since this is still under the FAST & FURIOUS brand, the film includes several big car chases, shoot outs and hand to hand combats.

The last three FAST & FURIOUS films were in the same style as the James Bond and Mission: Impossible films and that’s exactly how this one turned out. In fact, writers Chris Morgan and Drew Pearce stole so many elements from MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 2 and SKYFALL that fans of those films will notice the similarities. The film looks great and I appreciate that director David Leitch shot every action scene with care and didn’t go with the annoying fast editing and shaky style that plagued a lot of action films within the last decade. Unfortunately, most of the action were pretty boring to me, with the exception of a nifty motorcycle and car chase through the streets of London, the rest of the set pieces were just too bland and over CGI’d. I also think Leitch is not a very good storyteller, I enjoyed his last film DEADPOOL 2, but his other action picture ATOMIC BLONDE was kind of a dud. That film has so much potential to be great, but I found the pacing to be off and that’s how I feel about this film. The film relied too much on Johnson and Statham, but their constant bantering gets tiresome real fast. I think with a director who has more experience with comedy, it would’ve been a fun summer flick.

As usual, Johnson and Statham were good in their respective roles. They knew what kind of film they’re making and had fun with it. But as I mentioned before, their constant insults to one another got old and felt forced as the film progresses. After seeing her in last summer’s MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FALLOUT, I was a fan of Venessa Kirby. I felt like she kind of look lost in this film. She wasn’t bad or anything, I just think comedy might not be her strength, but she did looked good doing all the action stuff. Her character is supposed to be close in age to Statham’s character, but in real life, he’s old enough to be her father. It would’ve been better if they’d written her character as his long-lost daughter or something besides being basically his twin sister.

Elba looked like he’s having fun with his evil role, but I don’t like seeing this pattern of him being cast as the villain in big budget films. Ever since I saw him in THE WIRE, I was a fan and thought he would be the hero in big action films by now and not the villain. Let’s hope he turn down any other villain role that studios will likely offer him again.

I believe this is the last of the big budget film of the summer and I thought it kind of underwhelmed. The film has potential to be a fun ride, but it’s just stuck in one mode and never really took off. Besides some laughs from a couple of famous cameos, the comedy also fell flat. Not the worst in the franchise (that belongs to part 2 and 3) but nowhere near as fun or exciting as the franchise’s best FAST FIVE.

So have you seen HOBBS & SHAW? Well, what did you think?

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