Hobbs and Shaw REVIEWS: Here’s what the critics thought of the Fast and Furious spin-off

Following The Fate of the Furious, The Rock and Jason Statham’s Hobbs and Shaw have gone off one their own action spin-off. The official synopsis reads: “Ever since hulking lawman Hobbs, a loyal agent of America’s Diplomatic Security Service, and lawless outcast Shaw, a former British military elite operative, first faced off in 2015’s Furious 7, the duo have swapped smack talk and body blows as they’ve tried to take each other down. But when cyber-genetically enhanced anarchist Brixton (Idris Elba) gains control of an insidious bio-threat that could alter humanity forever — and bests a brilliant and fearless rogue MI6 agent (Vanessa Kirby), who just happens to be Shaw’s sister — these two sworn enemies will have to partner up to bring down the only guy who might be badder than themselves.” So far the reviews for Hobbs and Shaw have been mixed, but mainly positive, with a current Rotten Tomatoes score of 77%.

Hollywood Reporter
The two leads’ highly competitive shtick is more amusing than not – the insults fly hot and heavy – as are the outrageously adverse predicaments over which they invariably manage to gain an upper hand.

The Guardian
The movie is a bit overextended, and the action runs out of steam in the final battle, but it delivers some bangs and laughs for your buck.

HeyUGuys
An absolute blast, but among the testosterone it’s Vanessa Kirby who steals the show.

FAST AND FURIOUS MOVIE VIEWING ORDER

USA Today
Hobbs & Shaw checks all the boxes for the rousing, over-the-top ludicrousness you’d expect from a cinematic universe where there’s never been an abundance of believability.

Entertainment Weekly
What makes the movie feel like more than a series of increasingly unlikely X Games challenges, mostly, is the loopy man-child chemistry between its two leads, Dwayne Johnson’s Hobbs and Jason Statham’s Shaw.

Forbes
More than even the last few FAST AND FURIOUS movies, HOBBS & SHAW resembles a big, dumb, but enjoyable Saturday morning cartoon.

Business Insider
Hobbs & Shaw has more the feel of a beefed-up Lethal Weapon movie than something from Fast and Furious. And that’s not a knock. That’s why the movie works.

WILL HOBBS AND SHAW BE IN FAST AND FURIOUS 9?

Financial Times
The film should be subtitled Coming of Age in Samoa – the maturing of a planet, action-movie-style

Movie Nation
Well-cast, sometimes funny, pulls out all the stops and then some. But too long, too schmaltzy.

Time
Somewhere around the midpoint of Hobbs & Shaw, the action sequences become so elaborate that they start to weigh the movie down; it becomes less a lean machine than an unwieldy, chubby sausage.

Hobbs and Shaw is released in UK cinemas tomorrow.