Hobbs & Shaw are an ass-kicking odd couple in the Fast & Furious spin-off's first trailer

By Randall Colburn  |  February 1, 2019 | 2:15pm
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Dwayne Johnson is often credited with helping to revive the once-ailing Fast & Furious franchise, his debut as crafty lawman Luke Hobbs dovetailing with the series’ transformation into turbo-charged action spectacle. But, throughout his Fast tenure, Johnson appears to have alienated a few cast members in Vin Diesel and Tyrese Gibson. While this has led to his absence in the upcoming Fast 9, it’s opened the door for the odd couple action-comedy that the first trailer for Hobbs & Shaw promises it will be.

There’s plenty of reason to be excited. Atomic Blonde’s David Leitch is directing a script from longtime Fast scribe Chris Morgan, and the supporting cast includes Helen Mirren, Eiza Gonzalez, Vanessa Kirby, and Idris Elba, whose role as evil terrorist leader Brixton has long been teased.

Brixton, a self-proclaimed “bad guy,” factors largely in the trailer, which depicts him as literally super-powered. As such, our eponymous heroes—“the best trackers in the business”—are hired to take him down, but not without reservations. The trailer is heavy on terse, petty banter between the two, as well as the kind of bugnuts, self-aware action for which the latter part of the Fast series is known.

Hobbs & Shaw is the first of what appears to be several Fast spin-offs. An animated series is currently in development at Netflix, for example, and a female-centered spin-off written by Nicole Perlman, Lindsey Beer, and Geneva Robertson-Dwore is also rumored to be in development. Of course, whether or not these projects take off depends on the success of Hobbs & Shaw. The Coronas, you might say, are still on ice.

Hobbs & Shaw opens on July 26, 2019, with Fast 9 roaring into theaters in 2020.

 
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