Featured Blu-ray and DVD Review: Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw

November 5, 2019

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray Combo Pack or 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack
Video on Demand

Fast and the Furious is one of the largest franchises around with the nine installments so far earning nearly $6 billion worldwide. However, it appears to be off its peak as far as ticket sales are concerned with Hobbs & Shaw having the lowest box office haul since Fast Five exploded the franchise into the top-tier. Is the franchise off its peak in terms of quality as well? If so, is Hobbs & Shaw still worth checking out? Or is it time for fans to move on?

The Movie

We begin with a group of MI6 agents, including Hattie, going in to collect a virus being transported by an unnamed organization, named Eteon. The MI6 team make quick work of the team guarding it, but then Brixton shows up and just schools them. Hattie is the only survivor, but while she is able to get the sample, by injecting it into herself, Brixton frames her as a rogue agent and she has to go on the run.

We then switch to a split-screen look at how Luke Hobbs and Deckard Shaw start their day. This includes Hobbs eating hald-a-dozen raw eggs. Cooking eggs makes the protein easier to digest and you get about 50% more usable protein per egg. Anyhoo... We see them get called in to help track down a super virus, but they are working separately and don’t even know the other person is on the same case.

Next up we see the two men with the families. Hobbs is at a diner having breakfast with his daughter, Sam. They talk about their family tree, which is rather barren, has Hobbs had a falling out with his family? Meanwhile, Shaw meets with his mom, Queenie, in prison. She tries to get him to reconnect with his sister, but that’s not happening. Both men are approached about the job. CIA Agent Locke comes to Hobbs, while he’s still with his daughter, and approaches him because they are both looking for the virus and he might be able to help Hobbs work. Agent Loeb approaches Shaw, just after Shaw talked to his mother. Shaw is even less interested in helping, until Loeb shows him a photograph, one we don’t get to see. At this point, both men are on the case, but neither know they will be working with the other one. When they find out, they react poorly and go their separate ways.

Hobbs is the first to catch up to Hattie, knowing she will be avoiding all security cameras around London limits the areas he needs to search dramatically. When they do meet up, there’s quite a fight; however, despite Hattie’s skill, Hobbs is just as skillful a fighter, plus he has a massive size advantage. Hobbs is able to take Hattie in, but he recognizes she wasn’t trying to kill him, just get away, and concludes that she was framed for the murder of the rest of her team. Shaw shows up during the investigation and that’s when Hobbs learns two things. Firstly, Hattie is Hattie Shaw, Deckard’s sister. Secondly, Hattie injected herself with the virus and if she doesn’t get it out soon, a lot of people are going to die. Unfortunately, before anything can be done with this knowledge Brixton shows up and tries to capture Hattie.

Review

I was not a fan of the Fast and the Furious franchise until Dwayne Johnson joined the cast in Fast Five. However, even with him in the cast, my interest in the films waned enough that I didn’t even watch The Fate of the Furious. Is Hobbs & Shaw a return to form? Mostly. You have all of the action, humor, and banter from the best of the films and I do really like the chemistry between Vanessa Kirby and her two co-leads. Additionally, Idris Elba is predictably brilliant as the main villain. On the other hand, the banter between Hobbs and Shaw is only mostly good and does get a little strained at times.

Overall, if you are a fan of the Fast and the Furious films, then Hobbs & Shaw will very likely entertain you, especially if you thought Dwayne Johnson was a fantastic addition to the cast. On the other hand, I don’t think it is as good as the first few movies he was in and while I look forward to the inevitable sequel, I fear it will slip in quality enough for me to completely give up on these movies.

The Extras

Extras begin with an audio commentary track with the director, David Leitch. Up next is 45-minutes of deleted / extended / alternative scenes, including an alternative opening. It is worth noting that the alternative opening is basically the theatrical opening, just with the scenes in a different order. There are also just over a dozen featurettes with a total running time of under 40 minutes. The longest of these is just 5 minutes, while several of them are two minutes or less. The topics range from the cast and characters to making of elements. They would be more interesting, if they were longer and more in-depth. Several of these extras on not available on the DVD, but then again, I doubt there are many fans of these movies that have not made the leap to HD.

The Verdict

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw is good, but not great, while the DVD / Blu-ray / 4K Ultra HD have plenty of extras, it is sadly a case of quantity over quality. It is worth picking up for fans of the franchise, but not a Pick of the Week contender.

C.S.Strowbridge

Filed under: Video Review, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, Fast and the Furious, Idris Elba, Dwayne Johnson, Helen Mirren, Ryan Reynolds, Jason Statham, Vanessa Kirby, David Leitch, Rob Delaney, Eliana Su’a