As is often the case, Super Bowl LIII brought us a smattering of trailers and exclusive snippets for Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters tonight.
Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame, Alita: Battle Angel and more managed to secure their place on the official lineup, though there’s another franchise that also made a big splash earlier tonight. Its name? Hobbs & Shaw, a star-studded Fast and Furious spinoff and the first entry in the series to arrive without Vin Diesel taking the spotlight.
If you’ve been keeping tabs on the franchise expansion, you’ll know that there was a bit of behind the scenes drama, which led to a rather heated standoff involving Diesel and Dwayne Johnson. Apparently, the former was unhappy with the direction in which Fast and Furious was headed, leading to the ninth installment being delayed indefinitely in favor of Hobbs & Shaw.
Clearly, then, Universal’s souped-up spinoff has a mountain to climb if it’s to attract the Fast and Furious fanbase, but if this latest teaser is anything to go by, it looks like Hobbs & Shaw will be giving audiences exactly what they’re hoping for – supercharged cars, exotic locations and a large enough dose of testosterone to sink a ship.
Admittedly, the spinoff just seems to be more of the same, but it’s hard to say no to a hi-octane action film that boasts Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Idris Elba and a garage load of extreme cars. Not to mention that all the action here does appear to be very well choreographed, while Johnson and Statham have some excellent chemistry and watching them bicker and banter might just be worth the price of admission alone.
With any luck, then, Hobbs & Shaw will be more than just a retread of the Fast and Furious movies but with a smaller cast. If nothing else, though, we’re pretty sure that David Leitch can deliver a few physics-defying spectacles that’ll be worth seeing on the big screen when the film hits theaters on August 2nd.