After eight supercharged movies, The Fast and Furious has now officially established itself as a viable and expandable cinematic universe, thanks to Hobbs and Shaw.

This spin-off story brings Deckard Shaw’s sister, Hattie (Vanessa Kirby), into the mix when she injects herself with a dormant yet lethal virus in order to protect it from Brixton Lore (Idris Elba), a cyborg terrorist set on eradicating millions of people. Hobbs and Shaw are called in to protect Hattie from Lore and extract the virus before it activates within her system and kills her.

Both Hobbs and Shaw spend many priceless scenes alpha male-ing insults at each other, and every bit of it is the essence of why these two deserved their own arena, and Dwayne Johnson and Jason Stathum bring badass attitudes that amplify the intensity this time around.

The movie, however, doesn’t frame their special relationship in a story that’s at all interesting. Idris Elba’s Brixton Lore is strong in physicality, but weak as a compelling villain. And there are jarring timeline issues that makes former Fast and Furious cinema sins seem reasonable. But after eight films of car-centric plots becoming more absurd than the last, this spin-off delivers nothing less than is expected.

The essential elements from Fast and Furious are still present: action, comedy, and themes focused on the value of family. So if you can tune logic and rationality out for one more spin around the track, Hobbs and Shaw packs quite the one-two punch.

Acting and Casting - 1 | Visual Effects and Editing - 2 | Story and Message - 1 | Entertainment Value - 1 | Music Score and Soundtrack - 1 | Reviewer's Preference - 1 | What does this mean?