Just when you think that the “Fast and Furious” movies can’t possibly push the envelope of action movie insanity any further, the latest chapter in the series can always be counted on to kill that assumption dead as a door nail. With eight movies in the mainline series and a ninth in the works, the “Fast and Furious” franchise is also set to take fans on a new ride with the upcoming spin-off “Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw”. As you can see from the newly released second trailer below, it may well be the most wild and over-the-top installment in the “Fast and Furious” franchise yet!
The film will see the buddy pairing of two of the breakout characters from the series’ more recent chapters, Luke Hobbs and Deckard Shaw, played again by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Jason Statham. Following Shaw’s adversarial relationship with the entire “Fast and Furious” crew, and Hobbs especially, in 2015’s “Furious 7“, he became an unlikely ally when he and his old foes were forced to battle a common enemy in 2017’s “The Fate of the Furious”. The chemistry of Johnson and Statham as both opponents and allies proved to be one of the most widely praised aspects of both films, ultimately leading Universal to greenlight their spin-off from the main “Fast and Furious” series.
In “Hobbs and Shaw”, our titular heroes come face to face with Brixton Lore, played by Idris Elba, a former MI6 agent turned genetically-enhanced international terrorist, determined to get his hands on an experimental virus that could wipe out half the world’s population. Though Hobbs and Shaw are still a little mistrustful of each other, having never quite resolved the debate of who won their previous encounter, the two agree to join forces to put a stop to Lore’s sinister plot before it’s too late.
It’s absolutely mind-blowing to look back at the humble beginnings of the “Fast and Furious” franchise and track where the series has come to. Starting all the way back in 2001, “The Fast and the Furious” kicked the franchise off essentially as “Point Break” with street racing. 2011’s “Fast Five” marked a turning point for the series, bringing The Rock in for what has arguably become his signature role, shifting the series into a high-stakes heist caper with greater emphasis on fighting action and automotive stunts right out of a “Mad Max” movie. After introducing Shaw in a crowd-pleasing end-credits scene in “Fast and Furious 6”, “Furious 7” dove right into integrating the character into the series, while paying a heartwarming tribute to series mainstay Paul Walker following his tragic death in 2013.
Aside from the buddy cop banter of The Rock and The Stath, action fans have greater incentive to anticipate “Hobbs and Shaw” in the form of stunt veteran David Leitch stepping into the director’s chair. A true stunt pro whose credits include “Tomorrow Never Dies”, “300”, “Ninja Assassin“, “The Hangover”, “Conan the Barbarian“, and countless others, Leitch would transition to directing with Chad Stahelski, his fellow colleague of 87 Eleven Action Design, with 2014’s sleeper hit “John Wick“. Leitch would continue directing with 2017’s “Atomic Blonde” and last year’s “Deadpool 2“, and judging from the new trailer for “Hobbs and Shaw”, fans of the “Fast and Furious” series are in for what may be the most completely out-of-control chapter in the franchise yet.
In the three-and-a-half minutes above, viewers are treated to finely-tuned fight action blending grounded martial arts with pro-wrestling techniques one minute, and a cliff side chase with a truck chained to a helicopter (shades of “Mission: Impossible Fallout“?) the next. That’s without even getting into Elba denting steel walls with his bare hands, or The Rock leading his extended family in a Maori Haka before going toe-to-toe with their enemies’ henchmen. The “Fast and Furious” franchise has only gotten more off-the-hook with each installment, and with “Hobbs and Shaw”, it looks like they’re ready to blow the lid right off!