Two for the price of one, with both Dwayne Johnson (The Rock) and Jason Statham in co-lead roles, as ‘Hobbs’ and ‘Shaw’, continuing their characters from the Fast & Furious movies.
Plenty of high budget fast action scenes including epic car chases, inline with the rest of the Fast & Furious movie series, of which this is a kind of spin-off since Vin Diesel and The Rock didn’t want to work with each other any more.
Idris Elba makes a convincing antagonist too.
Ryan Reynolds has a funny supporting role – this is where he belongs – not in the lead role of an action hero movie. Great supporting role by Kevin Hart too – top level banter there.
Terrible choice of sleazy bratty pop music throughout – kind of ruins the vibe and is a missed opportunity, reminiscent of Black Panther from the year before.
Deadly virus themed plot – no surprise since it’s released in 2019 – it’s even called ‘CV17’ aka ‘the snowflake’ which ‘targets the weakest of us’. Ring any bells?
Dirty theme aside, there’s odd bit of good light humour throughout. But the comedy only works because the mood is otherwise nonchalant – for all the expensive action scenes, it’s not got the cool & comforting mood of something like Bloodsport – the plot is a bit soul-less and the action is intermittently noisy and unemotive, between exciting patches – just as you’d expect from any recent Fast & Furious movie. This is a classic example of how more money and big action movie stars doesn’t necessarily equal action scenes that click – top talent is still needed to put things together behind the scenes. The genre seems to be having an identity crisis – the action here isn’t nearly as slick and clicking as in The Transporter, and it isn’t nearly so funny as The Rundown. It’s got all the meat & bones of a mega classic, but lacks the warm blood running through it, as is often the case when too many superstars come together in one movie – the crew tend to get complacent and the movie ends up stinking (à la Ocean’s Eleven). Ironic, considering The Rock’s speech near the end of this movie, about having heart, to overcome machines.
The mood lifts about two thirds of the way in though, when the team head to Samoa to seek refuge among The Rock’s extended warrior family members. But the cast members playing his relatives aren’t impressive – another missed opportunity.
The lead female is played by Vanessa Kirby but she’s more like one of the lads. Eye candy instead comes courtesy of Eiza González (of Bloodshot (2020) starring Vin Diesel), but she only gets a few minutes of screen time. Major mix up there, and another missed opportunity.
Flaws aside, the stars and budget still carry this movie through to being decent. It’s not a bad movie at all. It’s just way off what it could have been, considering the levels each star has reached alone in other action movies.