The Fast & Furious spin-off Hobbs & Shaw hits theaters this week, and ahead of that, reviews have started to appear online. To help you get an idea about if the film is worth your time and money, we’ve rounded up review scores and opinions from various outlets. GameSpot reviewer Chris E. Hayner said it is “wildly entertaining and loaded with the kind of thrills you come to expect from Fast & Furious movies”
Hobbs & Shaw stars Dwayne Johnson as former federal Agent Luke Hobbs and Jason Statham as mercenary-for-hire Owen Shaw. The pair are forced to become reluctant allies to take on genetically modified ex-MI6 agent Brixton Lore, played by Idris Elba. It’s directed by David Leitch, who made Deadpool 2 and Atomic Blonde, as well as co-directing the first John Wick movie.
You can see a rundown of Hobbs & Shaw reviews below, while more information on the film’s critical reception can be found on GameSpot sister site Metacritic.
Hobbs & Shaw (2019)
- Directed By: David Leitch
- Written By: Chris Morgan, Drew Pearce
- Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Idris Elba, Vanessa Kirby, Helen Mirren
- Release Date: August 2 (United States)
GameSpot
“Ultimately, Hobbs & Shaw is probably the movie you want it to be. It’s funny with massive-scale action, the likes of which you rarely see outside of this franchise. It’s loaded with car chases, explosions, and fight scenes in which every character should repeatedly die. It’s just unfortunate that the pieces of the film that aren’t soaked in action don’t add up. This movie could have been incredible. Instead, it’s just a lot of adrenaline-fueled fun. Sometimes, though, that’s more than enough.” — Chris E Hayner [Full review]
The Wrap
“Hobbs & Shaw generally doesn’t reinvent any wheels in the franchise. But it does underscore the undeniable chemistry between bonafide action figures Johnson and Statham in a film that doesn’t try to be anything more than a frivolous blockbuster, but with heart.” — Candice Frederick [Full review]
Indiewire
“Overloaded with hit-or-miss action sequences, a half-baked supervillain, and paint-by-numbers plotting about a virus with the potential to destroy the world, Hobbs & Shaw often struggles to surmount the low bar of today’s blockbuster standards. But at the center of it, Johnson and Statham inhabit a higher plane, with such alluring chemistry as their hatred pulls them together it’s a wonder they don’t just get a room.” — Eric Kohn [Full review]
Entertainment Weekly
“If you can ever be too fast or too furious, too banter-y or too bald, that’s a vanishing point that goes unrecognized in Hobbs & Shaw — a testosterone motherlode so relentlessly, ridiculously adrenalized, it doesn’t so much unfold as steadily defibrillate you.” — Leah Greenblatt [Full review]
The Hollywood Reporter
“Hobbs & Shaw can be a great deal of fun much of the time. 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. Director Leitch figuratively winks at the audience and elbows it in the ribs as he has his characters break the laws of physics time and time again..” — Todd McCarthy [Full review]
The AV Club
“The sincere dopiness never sits well with the wiseass, self-mocking tone that Leitch adopts in the early, more energetic stretches of the film. The difference between being too smart for one’s own good and not being smart enough can be perilously thin. ” —Ignatiy Vishnevetsky [Full review]
ScreenCrush
“Hobbs & Shaw is the movie version of a replacement-level player. It is adequate, but not exceptional. It’s the baseline version of what one of these movies should be, now that they’re not about undercover cops chasing thieves anymore..” — Matt Singer [Full review]