First Take: Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw - the marathon begins here

SYNOPSIS: Lawman Luke Hobbs (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) and outcast Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) form an unlikely alliance when a cyber-genetically enhanced villain threatens the future of humanity.

Here we go ladies and gentlemen, that time of year is upon us once again - and ahead of the proper Marathon kicking off with Fast 9 on Wednesday, not only are we gonna have new reviews every day this week, but we’re finally gonna get a long-anticipated film written up. It was a spin-off many people thought would be overkill, but the first proper entry in the Fast and Furious series not to feature a Toretto family story (since the series moved from racing to espionage) is flawed at moments, but absolutely bonkers for most of its runtime.

John Wick, Atomic Blonde and Deadpool 2 mastermind David Leitch is the director in charge of the all-round stunt festival that this film delivers, given his experience co-ordinating these things he is the natural choice- coming in at 2 hours 17 minutes, it is decently paced, but sadly the writing is a bit predictable, with a few trims needed here and there for optimum effect. The franchise’s veteran scribe Chris Morgan co-wrote the script with Drew Pearce, and I can easily see who wrote which bits, as it blends the typical Fast and Furious setpiece with some very self-referential humour that Ryan Reynolds would be proud of (if you know, you know)- behind the scenes a lot of Leitch’s usual backroom team worked on this release, with cinematographer Jonathan Sela and composer Tyler Bates reuniting to continue the long-standing working relationship they’ve had since Atomic Blonde came out in 2017.

Performance wise, well, let’s talk about Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham, shall we? Over the last few films, they’ve not had the chance to shine, but in their first standalone movie… it’s obvious to see why they enjoy working on these kinds of scripts, as it is right up their street. Continuing that rivalry from Fast 7 was not easy, but they are able to make this film work- supporting them are a cast that includes Vanessa Kirby, Idris Elba, Eiza Gonzalez, and in a surprising turn, Johnson’s non-biological cousin Joe Anoa’i - better known to the world as current WWE Universal champion Roman Reigns - who all help turn a middle of the road script into a film which has enough cheese in it to avoid becoming a parody. It might not take itself as seriously as the mainline Fast and Furious releases, but this is a perfect ‘jump on’ point for new viewers.

THE VERDICT

This was a film which got the industry talking - and not just because of the credits song (one for the Vue lot), but Hobbs and Shaw is a perfect alternative to the more meaty entries in the franchise. And you don’t even need to have seen any of the first 8 to understand it either.

RATING: 3.5/5