‘Hobbs & Shaw’ Lands on the Nose

The fifth installment of the Dwayne Johnson-centered Furious series was bound for a spinoff since his inclusion in 2011’s Fast Five. It was then that the ongoing series — this one the 9th total, and counting — pivoted from its small-time race car and theft roots to morph into what we recognize now as the Fast & Furious formula: over-the-top machismo and action that has become its own standard in defining the genre for a generation. When Fast & Furious 6 introduced Jason Statham, played as Deckard Shaw, his character and Johnson’s Hobbs quickly turned into an antagonistic bromance of one-upmanship as the Hulk-ish Hobbs fought against, and then alongside, the sleek debonair of Statham’s Shaw. To enjoy their inevitable spin-off takes the prerequisite suspension of disbelief and immersion into the Furious universe where little makes sense aside from speed, strength, and sexuality, but also unearned forgiveness of Deckard Shaw as the character who killed fan-favorite Han. If you’re able to make the leap and are a fan of the series, Hobbs & Shaw will meet your expectations by being the blockbuster promised and your summer fix of the Furious franchise.

Idris Elba plays Brixton, whose villainy serves as an allusion to climate change and the increasing threat to human extinction that begs for our need to evolve. Cybernetically enhanced, Brixton is the lead foot soldier for the secret society that made him, and he is on a mission to own a virus that can wipe out the worl…