He may not fit into a McLaren sports car without the aid of CGI to make him appear sitting there.
But when Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, known as “The Hardest Worker in the Room,” brings his athletic presence on the screen, we know it’s the real deal.
Fast & Furious franchise is The Rock’s playground. He first appeared in it in 2011, in Fast Five, playing Luke Hobbs, a DSS special agent.
It became the highest-grossing installment up to that point. A coincidence? Likely not.
Now, after eight Fast & Furious films later, The Rock takes over in its great spinoff, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw. In this stand-alone vehicle one of my least favorite actors, Vin Diesel, who played the Toretto-something-character, has been dropped and one of my favorite action directors, David Leitch, has taken the helms. (Atomic Blonde (2017)).
Jason Statham with his furious fists and turbo lips takes the co-leading role as Deckard Shaw, a lawless outcast and a former British military elite operative.
The fate of humanity is in the hands of Hobbs and Shaw, who first faced-off in Furious 7 with their smack talk, which they took to another level in The Fate of the Furious (2017).
In Hobbs & Shaw, they bring their very best to play. It’s all action, a lot of smack and a lot of fun.
The film also features strong performances of a Terminator-like superhuman, Brixton, played by Idris Elba (Star Trek Beyond (2016), Thor: Ragnarok (2017)) and a fearless MI6 agent Hattie, played by Vanessa Kirby (The Crown (2016-2017)).
In a blend of real action and CGI, the film is an ode to great performances of stuntmen while it also manages to delve into bigger themes making it a greate film instead of your average summer blockbuster.
The natural presence of The Rock adds another layer to the story and his witty humor and the glimpses to his real-life ethics give this big-screen mayhem authenticity.
It’s real and almost unbelievable at the same time.
‘Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw’ premieres in Finland August 2.
