Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw Review

Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw

Dir: David Leitch

Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Idris Elba, Vanessa Kirby, Helen Mirren, and Cliff Curtis

“Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”. “Thunderbolt and Lightfoot”. “Freebie and the Bean”. “Tango and Cash”. “Turner & Hootch”. 

“Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw” continues the story tradition of the “buddy” film formula; two unlikely, often complete opposite, characters are somehow forced into cooperation and are whisked into a narrative that involves hijinks, adventure, crime, even romance. We’ve had follies with escaped convicts, escapades with rogue cops, and jaunts that pair human and animal. 

“Hobbs & Shaw”, two foes who first threw each other through windows and broke each other over furniture in “Furious 7” and then continued their fighting while working together in “The Fate of the Furious”, somehow has a little bit of everything thrown into its lofty narrative structure. This is an action movie plain and simple, a summer blockbuster extravaganza with enough “boom” and “bang” to fill two movies. It completely understands how to utilize its action movie super humans to the fullest extent, allowing enough witty one-liners and tree-chopping put downs to fill the spaces between action set pieces with enough humor to distract from the glaring lapses in narrative design. Still, if you’ve seen all eight “Fast and Furious” films, watched all four of the “The Transporter” movies, or watched Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson deliver wrestling moves in World Wrestling Entertainment, you know exactly what to expect from “Hobbs & Shaw”. 

A genetically enhanced bad guy (Idris Elba) with a physics-defying motor cycle is trying to steal a dangerous, world-ending virus but is thwarted by a special agent (Vanessa Kirby) who steals the weapon and retreats into hiding. Lawman Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and outcast Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) are called in, unbeknownst to each other, to form a team to save the world. 

Director David Leitch, who helmed “Atomic Blonde” and “Deadpool 2”, understands how to craft an action scene and how to provide that crucial element of fan service. When working with a franchise, “Fast and Furious”, that has built expectations so high for death-defying action scenes, applying the right amount fan service can be a difficult task. “Hobbs & Shaw” hits all the obvious marks, fans get a few explosive car chases, tough guy humorous banter between Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham, and several  bone-crushing fist fights. The film is checking all the boxes. 

But there is unfortunately something missing, the element of coherence and logic in storytelling that has all but been erased from the “Fast and Furious” films as they have grown in action franchise dominance. The element of drama and emotion that fleshes out their over heroic characters which has been replaced with heavy-handed emotional scenes that feel out of place and, in the case of “Hobbs & Shaw”, a “bromance” that plunges awkwardly between moments that are trying to be heartfelt and humorous. This dramatic element succeeds a handful of times when Johnson and Statham work individually with other characters in the film, unfortunately it seldom exists between the two leads. 

“Hobbs & Shaw” highlights the primary expectations fans of the “Fast and Furious” franchise are looking for. The action moves closer to comic book movie status while the humor works on the most superficial terms. For the last film of the 2019 summer blockbuster movie season, “Hobbs & Shaw” is an easy, simple, unremarkable distraction. 

Monte’s Rating

2.25 out of 5.00

  

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle Review

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

Directed by: Jake Kasdan

Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Karen Gillan, Rhys Darby, Nick Jonas, Alex Wolff, Ser’Darius Blain, Madison Iseman, Morgan Turner, and Bobby Cannavale

A magical board game called Jumanji wreaked havoc on two kids in the 1990’s, unleashing a jungle of wild animals, dangerous challenges, and a long lost man who had been trapped in the game for decades. The 1995 film starred Robin Williams at the peak of his stardom and brought a playful adventure tale to life in a family friendly way. 

Continuing the gameplay in the sequel “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” are a group of high school students stuck in detention. Here the group of teenagers are transported into a video game jungle adventure world. Director Jake Kasdan takes a somewhat mediocre computer generated fueled action film and injects it with extremely likable cast of characters, making this film a fun and funny adventure romp. 

Spencer (Alex Wolff) is a high school nerd who loves to play video games and has terrible allergies. Fridge (Ser’Darius Blain) is a football player struggling with his grades, he makes Spencer do his homework. Bethany (Madison Iseman) is a self absorbed popular girl more concerned about getting the perfect selfie than paying attention in class. Martha (Morgan Turner) is a defiant loner who doesn’t understand the purpose of gym class and would much rather be learning than making friends. These four students cross paths in detention and find an old video game while cleaning, but after picking their characters in the game they are transported into another world. 

Now the students must survive the game playing as their adult avatars; Spencer becomes Dr. Smolder Bravestone (Dwayne Johnson), a muscular hero with zero weaknesses, Fridge becomes Moose Finbar (Kevin Hart), a small in stature zoologist and weapons holder, Martha becomes Ruby Roundhouse (Karen Gillan), a dance fighting commando, and Bethany becomes Professor Sheldon Oberon (Jack Black), a middle-aged man who is also a cartographer.

“Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” moves pretty quick for a film that runs about 20 minutes too long. Much of the story operates in the basic format as the 1995 film, except this time around the method of transportation takes the gamers into the adventure rather than the adventure coming to them. CGI hippos, elephants, jaguars, rhinos, and a slew of other creatures and jungle backgrounds take the visual spectacle to lengths that hamper some of the better storytelling elements. But it’s hardly the story that will entice audiences into the theaters for this one.

What saves “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” from being another half hearted sequel is the cast, both the young actors and the adult actors compose a nice blend of characters with simple traits played genuine. Dwayne Johnson leads the cast as the heroic tough guy who is embodied by an unconfident, scared teenager. Mr. Johnson’s natural comedic charm makes this character believable. Kevin Hart plays the sidekick although he is embodied by the football playing jock. Mr. Hart is always the biggest character in the room, even when Dwayne Johnson is present; this confidence is played for laughs many times throughout the film. Karen Gillan is also good as Ruby Roundhouse, though her character is sometimes overshadowed. Still, she has a few moments to shine, in particular a dance fighting scene played to an amusing soundtrack choice. Jack Black steals the show here playing Professor Oberon with all the physical and verbal touches of a teenage girl. 

Playing the in-game characters opposite their teenage players gives the journey a few nice touches, especially when the scared teenager must become confident, when the jock needs to be a team player, or when the self-absorbed girl must sacrifice to save someone else. While these moments come in the most obvious ways, the actors do a good job of selling the performance.

“Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” may not be the most ingenious sequel to the original 1995 film but it doesn’t seem too concerned about oneupmanship. This is one of those films that seems perfectly suited for easy laughs and simple fun.

Monte’s Rating

3.00 out of 5.00

San Andreas Review

San Andreas

Dir: Brad Peyton

Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Carla Gugino, Alexandra Daddario, Paul Giamatti, Hugo Johnstone-Burt, Art Parkinson, Ioan Gruffudd, Archie Panjabi, and Will Yun Lee

114 Minutes

Rated PG-13

I remember in grade school when my science teacher talked about how a big enough earthquake would eventually drop California into the Pacific Ocean. Call in the summer blockbuster movie makers to make this story a realization through the extravagance of special effects. We’ve seen New York flood and freeze over in “The Day After Tomorrow”, we’ve seen a dormant volcano spew lava over the streets of Los Angeles in “Volcano”, we’ve even already seen an earthquake destroy most of Los Angeles in 1974’s “Earthquake”, it was only a matter of time before the natural disaster would return to the big screen. This time the film adds exceptional special effects to make the collapsing Golden Gate Bridge and crumbing Los Angeles skyline feel as realistic as possible. For those that have seen the movie trailer, you know what you are getting into and why you are going. It’s not for science factual filmmaking or in depth narrative structure.  It’s for the rumbling and tumbling visual stimulation of the disaster film; everything else is merely an afterthought.

Ray (Dwayne Johnson) is a rescue helicopter pilot in California. Fresh off a rescue that saved the life of a young woman, Ray is eager to help his daughter Blake (Alexandra Daddario) move back to college. Unfortunately an earthquake forces Ray back to work and sends Blake to San Francisco with her mother’s (Carla Gugino) new boyfriend (Ioan Gruffudd). A seismologist (Paul Giamatti) at CalTech discovers that a program he has been researching can predict earthquakes, however not before one destroys the Hoover Dam. Los Angeles is the next target, but it’s an appetizer for the main course of San Francisco. This leads Ray and his wife to venture across California to save their daughter.

“San Andreas” is directed by Brad Peyton, who last helmed “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island”, and stars the frequently reliable Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Johnson has a screen presence reminiscent of the larger-than-life action stars of the 80’s and a sense of humor, humility, and hubris that brands his characters; this quality has saved many of his films. However, in a film stuffed with this much visual flair as “San Andreas”, Johnson is surrendered to playing the heroic role from the back seat, yelling cautionary warnings and motivational one-liners amidst falling debris and shaking camera work. Though he is given the opportunity to rip the door off an SUV in one early scene.

While the script offers a few moments for the characters to grow, a glossed over storyline about a broken family dealing with the loss of their daughter offers a small glimmer of character development, most of the performances are reactionary or physical. These narrative moments are simply bridges to connect the demonstrations of destruction. While the film attempts to establish some sort of relationship between the viewer and characters, one that makes the viewer care about the spotlighted people in danger, the short interactions don’t allow proper time to establish a connection when all around them are millions of people perishing.

 “San Andreas” is a spectacle of visual indulgence, an overload of devastation that lessens the impact and interest of the scenes. It’s a film that doesn’t waste time with an overwhelming plot, there is barely one here, or characters that do more than direct the film from one bang and boom scene to another. Instead “San Andreas” is comfortable with the simplistic quality associated with disaster film entertainment, which it achieves quite well, but unfortunately this alone is not enough.

Monte’s Rating

2.50 out of 5.00