The Fate of the Furious (AKA Fast & Furious 8) went a little overboard for this writer’s liking. I mean forget about the large submarine chase sequence, the film pretty much ignored a lot of the previously established character writing. Take Deckard Shaw for example. The dude murdered a member of the Toretto “family” in cold blood but is now somehow their friend? It makes no sense whatsoever. Having said that, I also can’t help myself but get excited for Hobbs & Shaw and it’s because of one man and one man only. No, no, I’m not talking about Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, but the man at the helm, David Leitch.
David Leitch (who directed Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2 and co-helmed the first John Wick) is one of, if not the very best action director working in the world today, right up there with Chad Stahelski, Gareth Evans and Christopher McQuarrie. I mean, who can forget the staircase action sequence from Atomic Blonde? But watching the trailer of Hobbs & Shaw, I wondered if Leitch would incorporate his unique brand of action into the film as well instead of just over the top bombast. Well as it turns out, we’ll be getting plenty of David Leitch-isms. In an interview with ComicBook.com, Leitch promised that we’ll be getting some action scenes in Hobbs & Shaw that’ll remind us of John Wick and Atomic Blonde.
“There is some grounded practical stunts. You’re gonna see some great fight scenes in the style of Atomic Blonde or John Wick but you’re also gonna see your epic car action that you know from a fast movie, your CG set pieces that do things that defy gravity. We really wanted to merge the creativity of what I do and what the fans in the Fast world have always loved.”
Interestingly enough, Jason Statham who plays Deckard Shaw in the Fast & Furious franchise mentioned that there were plenty of fight sequences shot for Hobbs & Shaw so brutal, they had to be left on the chopping room floor.
“A lot of it didn’t make the movie. Too X-rated. We have to snip, snip, snip all of the good stuff out and save it for the DVD. I guess censorship kind of gets in the way of the fun sometimes.”
Hobbs & Shaw will drift into Malaysian cinemas 1 August 2019.
