Reviewed by Victor Rebikoff.
Director: David Leitch, Universal Pictures, M 137 Minutes.
In this fun spinoff from the Fast and Furious franchise comes a highly-enjoyable action adventure reuniting two characters from opposite sides of the law – Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson and Shaw (Jason Statham) – following their appearances in earlier F & F films.
Before the dynamic duo are brought into the picture, the story opens with Hattie Shaw (Vanessa Kirby –‘Me Before You’) the formidable leader of a group of British MI6 agents assigned to retrieve an Ebola-like virus that threatens humanity.
However their stoic efforts are stymied by Brixton (Idris Elba –‘The Dark Tower’) a cyber-genetically enhanced half-machine half-human with extraordinary abilities, hell-bent on preventing Hattie from escaping prior to seeing her injecting herself with the virus.
It is at this point that Hobbs and Shaw enter the fray with the latter, first visiting Queenie (Helen Mirren –‘The Queen’) his mother in jail and then been told of his sister Hattie’s parlous predicament.
At the same time, Hobbs is forced to form an unlikely alliance with Shaw but foremost must find Hattie before Brixton does in the hope of saving humanity and in particular Hobb’s daughter Sam (Eliana Sua’s first feature film).
Once Hattie is found, the next stage for both Hobbs and Shaw is to have the virus extracted from her body knowing full well that Brixton will be hot on their heels with his band of killers.
The fast action pursuit that follows takes the trio – Hobbs, Shaw and Hattie – to Samoa where the battle lines are drawn in the final confrontation with Brixton, besides providing Hobbs the opportunity to reconcile with his estranged brother Jonah (Cliff Curtis –‘Risen’).
Quite remarkably it is a battle royale encounter involving tribal weapons against a technologically-advanced enemy.
Despite the screen duration being almost two and a half hours long and filled with some far-fetched action scenes, this movie is certainly entertaining, due mainly to the humorous antics of both leading actors.
Apart from the picturesque settings and the popular muscle-bound Johnson performing his usual role in achieving justice as in ‘Rampage’, it is Kirby delivering another impressive performance similar to that in ‘Mission Impossible Fallout,’ as does ‘Luther’s Elba.
Vic’s Verdict: 3 ½ Stars
