Jason Statham

Hobbs & Shaw

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw
  • IMDb: link

Hobbs & Shaw movie reviewThe Fast & Furious franchise has produced a series of films over the past two decades that range from fairly okay (Fast Five and Tokyo Drift) to largely forgettable (see everything else). Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw may not have a lot going for it but it does have Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Jason Statham who take their bickering to the next level when forced to work together on a joint CIA and MI6 assignment (despite neither one working for either agency).

The plot steals more than a little from M:I-2 when an agent (Vanessa Kirby) injects a deadly virus into herself rather than let it fall into the hands of terrorists. Hobbs is tapped to find the agent, who our suped-up super-villain (Idris Elba) and his super-secret villainous organization have framed for the theft and deaths of her team. Ryan Reynolds gets a fun, if largely unnecessary, cameo to bring the hero onboard. Shaw‘s motivations are far more personal.

The film offers plenty of chase sequences but far less muscle cars and heists than the usual Fast & Furious flick. In fact, other the the forced family theme shoved down the audience’s throat at every turn, Hobbs & Shaw feels like a rather purposeful departure from the franchise which spawned it.

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The Fate of the Furious

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Fate of the Furious
  • IMDb: link

The Fate of the Furious movie reviewHow did this franchise manage eight films? When The Fast and the Furious was released in 2001 to mixed reviews I doubt anyone foresaw the series generating seven sequels. Following in the path of the previous films, The Fate of the Furious is a pretty dumb film that provides entertainment mostly through the more ridiculous pieces of its plot (and let’s be honest, it’s all ridiculous).

When the series began there was a focus on racing, real stunt work, and fast cars. Over the recent entries the series has devolved a bit into a live action cartoon making it impossible to take anything seriously. Remember the last (almost completely forgettable) movie had a tank and cars jumping through buildings? Well this on has a submarine!

Playing on the themes of friendship and family, the latest entry pits Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) against the team he put together when the world’s best hacker known as Cipher (Charlize Theron) blackmails him into joining a crew that actually doesn’t need his help (seriously, every piece of Cipher’s plan is only made harder by Dom’s involvement, as it brings in his team to stop them).

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Mechanic: Resurrection

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  • Title: Mechanic: Resurrection
  • IMDb: link

Mechanic: ResurrectionThe follow-up to 2011’s The Mechanic returns Jason Statham as retired hitman Arthur Bishop. After faking his death, Bishop has lived the good life in Rio until a courier (Yayaying Rhatha Phongam) for an old frenemy (Sam Hazeldine) throws Bishop’s life into chaos. After falling for the honeypot (Jessica Alba) sent in to earn his trust, Bishop is blackmailed into committing the impossible assassinations of the world’s three largest arms dealers (Femi Elufowoju Jr., Toby Eddington, and Tommy Lee Jones) in a matter of days when he fails to prevent her kidnapping.

Better than the first film, director Dennis Gansel relies too heavily at times on close shaky-cam quick-cut action scenes. The script by Philip Shelby and Tony Mosher is more convoluted than necessary for a rather straightforward action film. Because of this the story requires a bit more set-up, following the open action sequence, before the movie really gets going. The set-up is really just an excuse to throw Statham into action scenes in multiple exotic locales (Thailand, Brazil, and Australia). On that level it works pretty well, especially during it’s best scene involving Bishop’s murder by swimming pool.

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Spy

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Spy
  • IMDb: link

SpyMelissa McCarthy stars as a CIA analyst forced into the field when an arms dealer (Rose Byrne) with knowledge of all the CIA’s operatives acquires a nuclear bomb and plans to sell it on the black market. I’m far from McCarthy’s biggest fan whose poor script choices have made me more than once refer to her as the female Kevin James. However, with Spy the comedienne’s talents are put to good use by writer/director Paul Feig which is odd because the script shares quite a bit in common with the far-less enjoyable Get Smart reboot from a few years back. Along with McCarthy, Feig balances the talents of Byrne, Jude Law, and a very funny Jason Statham as the alpha-male spy who is his own biggest fan in a comedy far funnier than I was expecting.

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Furious 7

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Furious 7
  • IMDb: link

“Cars don’t fly.”

Furious 7The latest entry is neither the best (Fast Five) nor the worst (2 Fast 2 Furious) of the franchise. Taking place after the events of Fast & Furious 6, Furious 7 introduces Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) as the brother of Owen Shaw (Luke Evans), who the team took down in the last movie, and the man responsible for killing Han (Sung Kang) in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. Now Shaw is targeting Hobbs (Dwayne “It’s Okay to Call Me The Rock Again” Johnson) and every member of Dominic Toretto‘s (Vin Diesel) team.

Despite Paul Walker‘s death during filming, Brian O’Conner‘s role in the film isn’t truncated thanks to the use of CGI and a little trick photography involving his two brothers. The film ends with a nice farewell for its fallen star although, despite discussion of making more Fast & Furious films, the character isn’t killed off on-screen making you wonder what kind of role Brian could possibly play going forward.

As with all the previous movies, the strengths of the latest film are its stunts which get larger and more ridiculous. Like the last film, this one stretches all credibility during its climax.

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