HOBBS & SHAW is the first spin-off from the FAST & FURIOUS franchise not to feature Vin Diesel, but it turns out you don't miss him at all. This is because the entire film consists of Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham engaging in verbal sparring and constant insults, some of which are pretty stupid, but many of which are witty. They certain sound good in the mouths of these two enthusiastic actors and they have a real camaraderie missing in many modern buddy-buddy comedies. Aside from these guys, you get a typically bombastic and unrealistic plotline involving Idris Elba's generic supervillain, a lot of globetrotting, and typically CGI enhanced vehicle chases. It's not remotely believable, but that doesn't really matter as this is all about OTT mayhem and humorous lines in between. Plenty of fight scenes add to the fun, although it's a shame about some of the performances, but generally this works.

Hattie (Vanessa Kirby) is a part of an MI6 team on a mission to secure a deadly programmable virus. They are attacked by the superpowered villain Brixton (Idris Elba). Sole survivor Hattie manages to escape and takes the virus with her by injecting the capsules into her hand. She is framed for the massacre and the thief of the world ending virus. The CIA recruits two outside operatives to retrieve her and the scientist who designed the virus. It's Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and Shaw (Jason Statham),and they don't like each other.

I like the first half. It's a fun superhero Avengers movie. The Rock and Statham have charisma to burn. Vanessa Kirby is intriguing and Idris Elba is a great actor. It seems set to be a fun ninety minutes popcorn movie. Somewhere along the line, the movie loses momentum and goes into slow motion action mode for the worst. I know exactly the moment. It's the torture scene. Like Brixton says, these guys are never going to turn. The whole exercise is futile. If the villains kidnapped Hobbs' daughter and figured out that Hattie is Shaw's sister, turning them may get interesting. The writing is never that smart.

As for being smart writing, I have an issue with the virus. The movie needs an opening scene where the MI6 team is introduced to virus. The virus needs exposition. Then I couldn't figure out why Hattie wouldn't simply cut off her hand and burn it. It kept nagging me for the rest of the movie. I know it's silly to nitpick this movie but it's annoying when an obvious solution is being ignored. Finally, two hours is way too long. Blowing up the evil base is plenty to close out the movie. It needs to end. This is not worth two hours. This movie is fine until it's not.

With every movie studio needing a franchise these days.

Universal Pictures have expanded the Fast and Furious universe with Hobbs & Shaw.

It's a bloated mismatched buddy movie.

Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) are reluctantly put together by the CIA. The target is find a rogue agent called Hattie (Vanessa Kirby) who has stolen a virus.

It turns out that Hattie is Deckard's sister and she was framed by a cybernetic enhanced baddie called Brixton (Idris Elba.)

Brixton was once left for dead by Deckard. Now he is after Hattie. Deckard and Hobbs need to get the virus out of Hattie before it's too late and keep her safe from Brixton.

This is James Bond meets Lethal Weapon meets Terminator. There are comic cameos from Kevin Hart and Ryan Reynolds.

Hobbs and Shaw who started out as enemies in the Fast & Furious movies are now Frenemies. They bicker, argue and wind each other up.

Director David Leitch made his name in action films and here provides a lot of stupidly preposterous action sequences. Some go on for too long and get even more absurd. One example is all the vehicles all locking on to each other to try and bring down Brixton's helicopter.

The CGI is obvious in places but there is a lot of kinetic energy that pads out the flimsy story. Undemanding fun that goes on for too long.