The action-packed spin-off shows how Hollywood’s most audacious franchise has more than enough gas left
In the comedown off the adrenaline high resulting from The Fate of the Furious, the eighth and most recent entry in the franchise of dizzyingly lucrative pedal-to-the-metal blockbusters, the future of the series seemed dicey. These films had claimed box-office supremacy by one-upping themselves with the skill and self-knowledge of the great kung fu epics, always saving their wildest moves for the moment of maximum impact. But the sequel dubbed F8 didn’t leave a whole lot of road on which to put the rubber; having sped just ahead of shattering ice in pursuit of a nuclear submarine, having jumped a luxury four-door vehicle out of one skyscraper and through the windows of the neighboring tower, where could they go? (Aside from space.)
Enter Hobbs and Shaw, a spinoff pairing two fan-favorite antagonists from the primary diegesis and sending them off on an odd-couple adventure all their own. The macho charm of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (as diplomatic security service agent Luke Hobbs) and the stone-faced tough-guy act from Jason Statham (as special forces officer-gone-rogue Deckard Shaw) proved a winning combination this past weekend, as they raked in a staggering $180m take in worldwide ticket sales. But the causes for this film’s success run deeper than the nitroglycerine chemistry between its muscular leads. The true strength of Hobbs and Shaw, the secret to extending a film universe seemingly nearing its limit, is its willingness to loosen up. In throwing out the rule book and relaxing its own mythos, the series has opened up a world of narrative possibility just waiting to be.
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