I realize that some of you reading this may or may not be fans of The Fast and Furious franchise. Some people have seen 1 or 2 movies, some haven’t seen any of them. For those wondering why Hollywood is still making F&F sequels, here’s a crash course to get you caught up:
Back in 2001, The Fast and the Furious was released. Paul Walker played undercover LAPD officer Brian O’Conner who poses as a street car racer in order to infiltrate Dominic Toretto’s (Vin Diesel) crew of criminals. Brian falls in love with Dom’s sister, befriends Dominic, then allows him to escape arrest in the end.
7 sequels later and a whole ton of money made at the box office, each film follows Brian, Dom, and their family of friends around the globe as they take down more dangerous criminals and terrorists.
Dwayne Johnson entered the franchise at Fast Five (2011) as government bounty hunter Luke Hobbs sent to track and capture Dom and his associates.
Jason Statham appears in a mid-credits scene of Fast & Furious 6 (2013) as Deckard Shaw, the brother of bad guy Owen Shaw who was almost killed by Dominic.
The Fate of the Furious (2017) gave us a glimpse of what it would look like if these two badass dudes were forced to team up.
Well, apparently the fans and the powers that be decided to give these two characters their own spinoff. Hobbs & Shaw takes place 2 years after the events and release of The Fate of the Furious.
Idris Elba stars as cyber-genetically enhanced super villain Brixton Lore. He is a henchman who is tasked with retrieving a deadly virus for a secret terrorist organization known as Eteon. Vanessa Kirby, who some might recognize as the White Widow in Mission Impossible: Fallout, stars as Shaw’s sister and MI6 agent Hattie Shaw. The only other character from any of the previous movies to return is Helen Mirren as Magdalene Shaw, mother of Deckard, Owen and Hattie.
My first thought while watching this movie was how closely it resembled Tango & Cash. The 1989 movie starred Sylvester Stallone (Tango) and Kurt Russell (Cash) as two cops who have to bring down a criminal that set them up. Also Teri Hatcher plays Stallone’s sister that gets caught up in the action. Not saying this is a bad thing, I was just surprised at how many similarities I found between the two and wondered if this was intentional or just all a coincidence.
The bottom line is if you’ve seen any of the F&F films, you kind of know what to expect; crazy car chases, brutal fight scenes, and over-the-top action with a splash of humor every so often. They know why people constantly return to the theater to see these flicks and they’re not about to make too many changes to the recipe that has gotten them this far. It’s cool guys driving cool cars doing cool stuff and saving the world. The perfect popcorn movie if you ask me.
For you die hard fans, Vin Diesel recently posted a picture of him and John Cena on set of Fast & Furious 9 set to be released in 2020!
@vindiesel Day 16! Grateful, Blessed and Inspired. #Fast92020
