‘Hobbs & Shaw’ ridiculously entertaining, but lacks tension for its alpha-male stars

By George Haerle

For Grays Harbor News Group

If “Hobbs & Shaw” succeeds at anything (aside from giving Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham more buckets of money), it’s that it will make you look forward to the next “Fast & Furious” movie a bit more.

The movie isn’t bad; in fact, it’s probably exactly what kids and bigger fans of the franchise had hoped for. There are a few ridiculously over-the-top action sequences that stretch the suspension of disbelief so much, they come off as almost comedic. This isn’t a bad thing, as it has become the series’ strong point: embracing the silliness of it all and then adding some NOS to it.

There’s a bit of a problem, though, in this buddy action comedy: There is no real tension despite the threadbare plot having such high stakes. Johnson (Hobbs) and Statham (Shaw) maintain a career image of alpha butt-kickers. When they are presented as unstoppable forces that could each go one-on-one with a Terminator, there’s hardly a doubt that everything will end up fine. Some action sequences and explosions are so obscene that when both of these guys end up walking out spotless by the end for the fifth or sixth, it starts to feel almost boring.

The plot is a thrown-together action film with forgettable story beats, and the laughs and dialogue range from outright hilarious to total groaners (especially after the 10th penis joke). Even then, this probably all only works because of the sheer amount of charisma and chemistry between the two leads.

In the overall “Fast & Furious” series, the crew is a mix of melodramatic characters, comedic relief and the macho guys like Johnson, Statham and Vin Diesel. This allows for a bit of spice thrown into its easy-to-digest formula where everything ends up fine and dandy at the end of the movie. But at times, “Hobbs & Shaw” feels like the audience is being fed saltine crackers. It’s OK, but it feels like it’s scraping the bottom of the barrel for anything exciting or satisfying that hasn’t been done way better in the previous films.

Vanessa Kirby plays Shaw’s sister Hattie, an MI-6 agent, and is set up to be the center of the stakes and tension. Her character’s subplot is mostly running down the clock while on the run from her own organization, which believes she has betrayed them. Kirby is really great at Hattie and is probably one of the more exciting characters the series is produced in years. She brings vulnerability and wit to the role, as well as the ability to pull off a fight scene in fantastic style. Hattie is a bit of a scrapper and a skillful fighter compared to the blunt forces of Statham and Johnson.

But the movie undermines a lot of the tension and intrigue around Hattie as Johnson and Statham effortlessly stampede through every obstacle in the film — even if Idris Elba’s villain gives them a bit of a challenge at first. Elba is more of a star here than anybody, chewing up the scenery as the cybernetically enhanced Brixton. He also owns his screen time when pitted against the larger-than-life leads, making himself a totally worthy opponent and an entertaining villain despite paper-thin character development.

Still, watching Johnson and Statham play off each other is always a treat, and “Hobbs & Shaw” is entirely entertaining if the “Fast & Furious” films have been up your alley so far. Though a sequel to this new spinoff series seems inevitable now, it would be far better just to keep including these two as part of the larger group of characters in the larger series than to continue this separate arc for the characters.

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“Hobbs & Shaw” is playing at the Riverside Cinemas, 1017 S. Boone St. in Aberdeen.

George Haerle holds a bachelor’s degree in creative writing for media and lives in Cosmopolis.