Nothing like their sombre characters in the franchise, Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) form a partnership to track down an agent-gone-rogue who has a deadly virus in her possession, and what do you know — she’s Deckard’s sister Hattie. Mother Shaw, now in jail, also makes an appearance in the film. As the two keep bickering with each other to assert who is the ‘alpha male’ among them, they track her down to find out that she has injected herself with the virus (which has been contained in capsules) to keep it out of the hands of the real villains (a syndicate called Eteon), who want to use it to rid humanity of weaklings and create a new world.
Brixton Lore (Idris Alba) was an MI6 field agent, who was shot in the face by Shaw, before being taken in by Eteon and equipped with cyber-genetic technology which enhances his physical abilities. He is now hunting down Hattie for the virus. The storyline, a rip-off of a generic spy film, is quite daft. Think Kingsman: The Golden Circle, meets Skyfall meets The Terminator, and add a whole fleet of fancy cars.
But keeping with the tradition of the Fast and Furious franchise, there are gasp-worthy action sequences, car chases and crashes and many riveting stunts.
New additions include Hobb’s and Shaw’s humorous personalities, a peak into their family backgrounds, the introduction of Ryan Reynolds as Hobb’s frivolous boss, and Kevin Hart as air marshal Dinkely, who is bored out of his mind sitting in a ‘fart capsule’ and will do anything to be a part of the action.
Along with the central theme of ‘family’ running throughout the film, there was also a focus on ‘going back to nature’ as Hobbs takes his team back to his home, the Samoan islands, where he reunites with his family who help fight the bad guys. While the villains have high tech artillery, the Samoans fight with traditional weapons, facepalm. But The Rock’s rousing speech in the native Samoan language, when he tells his brothers to wage war on Eteon’s army, gave us serious Black Panther feel.
Like the Marvel movies, some of the films in the Fast and Furious also had a post credit scene — remember Fast Five when they show that Letty is alive? This film also has a post credit scene which, after all the Game of Thrones criticism, hints at a possible sequel.
