geezer cinema: fast & furious presents: hobbs & shaw (david leitch, 2019)

The latest movie in the weekly trip to the theater that my wife and I have started since she retired. This was her choice. (Just to get the obvious out of the way: I'll be referring to this movie as Hobbs & Shaw.)

I've only seen one Fast & Furious movie (the first), so I can't speak to the relationship between this spin-off and the series. I enjoyed the trailers, and didn't mind that my wife chose this for our weekly outing. (She gave me a choice between this and Men in Black: International, and I'm glad she gave me the chance to avoid that one ... I didn't even care for the first two, after which I quit watching them.) The Rock has such great charisma that he can get you through some pretty bad movies (although I've only seen half-a-dozen, none of which were classics). I also appreciate Jason Statham, whose martial arts work sets him apart from the usual blow-'em-up destructo pictures (although again, I haven't seen all that many of his movies, and none of them were classics, either). It will come as no surprise, then, that Hobbs & Shaw is no classic. But it's fun in a goofy way, and Vanessa Kirby, who is an actual actress, was believable as the ass-kicking women. Idris Elba rounds out the main cast ... he's a good villain, although unlike with Johnson or Statham, I feel like Elba is wasted in movies like this.

Hobbs & Shaw isn't The Raid or Fury Road, but that's a high standard. It's good enough.

I should say a word about how we saw the movie: it was our first time experiencing Dolby Cinema. We give it two thumbs up ... picture great, sound great, rumbling seats great. I recommend trying it out if you are seeing the kind of movie that might benefit from it, if you can find a theater (this is AMC's product).