'Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw' Is an Effortlessly Entertaining Blockbuster with Incredible Action Setpieces

I was able to catch this movie at an advance screening. Walked to the theater in the middle of a thunderstorm. Socks were soaked. Lost my glasses in the rain.

But it was worth it.

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw is an action film written by Chris Morgan and Drew Pearce and directed by David Leitch (Deadpool 2, Atomic Blonde). The film is a spin-off of The Fast and the Furious franchise.

It stars Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham as Luke Hobbs and Deckard Shaw, two tough-as-nails guys who need to find a way to work together to protect Shaw's sister, Hattie, from an evil, genetically-enhanced soldier named Brixton.

Now, I marathoned the Fast & Furious movies before seeing this movie, and I like most of them. And having watched this movie, I can say that this is my second favorite in the franchise (behind Furious 7).

I loved this movie. It's one of my favorites of the year, and it perfectly defines what a summer action blockbuster should be. I loved how this movie is completely aware of what it is and doesn't try to be anything else: a big dumb action movie.

The action setpieces in this film are incredible. They were directed with a lot of clarity and energy by Leitch, who was the uncredited co-director of John Wick.

Every single setpiece is so masterfully constructed. They're all creative and exciting in their own ways, and they are incredibly over-the-top, especially the climax, which involves multiple trucks, a train, and a helicopter. It's truly epic, and it even pays homage to the direction of the street racing scenes from the old-school Fast & Furious movies.

One of the highlights of this movie is the dynamic between Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham. We see early on that the two live similar lives, but they both have their own distinct style, and they tend to butt heads frequently throughout.

And this opens up a lot of doors for some really funny scenes. This is, by leaps and bounds, the funniest Fast & Furious film. There's so much hilarious comedy in this movie that it could be labeled a comedy as well. It's so funny to watch these two play off of each other and invent all these new ways of insulting each other.

In terms of the story, this movie is pretty good. It's not the best story in the world, but this movie does a good job of having a plot that opens up all these opportunities for action sequences without feeling like the story is tailor-made to tie together some cool scenes. A lot of work is put into the story.

The villain of this movie was also pretty strong. Brixton is pretty indestructible, and he does some really awesome stuff with his motorcycle. He's got a backstory, he's a skilled fighter, and he's a self-described "black Superman," and it's really interesting to see Hobbs and Shaw try to find his kryptonite.

And I think this is gonna be regarded as one of the better Fast & Furious movies. I like it more than Fast Five, but I feel like most won't.

In terms of issues I have with the movie, they're minor. First of all, the tone in the movie tends to shift a bit too fast. We can have one hilarious scene followed immediately after by a torture scene, and the tone can even jump around from comedic to dramatic over the course of one scene.

There's also a scene near the end that dips into action movie cliché territory. This film commits a cliché that we've seen countless times in every action movie to ever exist, and it was the only real disappointment of the film.

I felt like Eiza González's character could have played a bigger role in the plot, and not everyone may like this movie because of what Shaw did in Furious 7 when he was still a villain, and while that does feel like an issue, I do think they've made Shaw a more likable character.

But overall, this is a very entertaining, very fun action movie. It's not like the John Wick movies, which I consider to be dramas that have big action sequences. This movie is the epitome of a popcorn flick that you can sit back, turn your brain off, watch, and enjoy for the mind-blowing, physics-defying action setpieces.

It's a really funny movie as well, and if you want the ideal viewing experience for this movie, I have two recommendations: A) don't watch the trailers, because they give away everything, and B) don't read the cast list, because there are two HILARIOUS celebrity cameos in this film.

I'm gonna give 'Hobbs & Shaw' a 9/10 (A-).

When you have time, please watch this movie. I highly recommend it if you like big dumb action movies. If you're not an action movie junkie like I am, this won't be the movie for you, but it definitely was the movie for me.

Thank you so much for reading.