Hobbs & Shaw

Hobbs & Shaw (marketed as Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw) is a 2019 American buddy action comedy film directed by David Leitch from a script by Chris Morgan and Drew Pearce. It is a spin-off film and the ninth installment of the Fast & Furious franchise, taking place after the events of The Fate of the Furious (2017). It stars Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham, alongside Idris Elba, Vanessa Kirby, Eiza González, Cliff Curtis, and Helen Mirren. In the film, Luke Hobbs and Deckard Shaw join Shaw's younger sister Hattie Shaw to take down Brixton Lore (Elba), a cybernetically enhanced terrorist, who is threatening the world with a deadly virus.

Franchise star and producer Vin Diesel said in 2015 that possible spin-offs were in early development, and Hobbs & Shaw was officially announced in October 2017. Leitch signed on to direct in April 2018, with Kirby and Elba joining the cast three months later. Principal photography ran from September 2018 to January 2019, with locations including London, Glasgow, and Kauaʻi. The film was subject to controversy after longterm Fast & Furious producer Neal H. Moritz filed a lawsuit against Universal Pictures for breach of oral contract and committing promissory fraud related to his role on Hobbs & Shaw, which was eventually settled in September 2020 and he received a producer credit on F9 (2021).

An international co-production between the United States and Japan, Hobbs & Shaw premiered at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on July 13, 2019, and was theatrically released by Universal Pictures in the United States on August 2, 2019. It received mixed reviews from critics, who praised its action sequences and the chemistry between Johnson and Statham, but found it underwhelming when compared to other Fast & Furious films. It was a box office success, grossing $760.7 million worldwide on a budget of $200 million.

Plot

In London, MI6 agent Hattie Shaw retrieves a programmable supervirus 'Snowflake' from Eteon, a techno-terrorist organization. She is ambushed by Brixton Lore, an ex-MI6 agent and Eteon operative embedded with cybernetic implants. Brixton attempts to capture Hattie, who injects herself with the only dose of Snowflake before escaping. Brixton frames Hattie for going rogue and stealing Snowflake, forcing her to go on the run.

Luke Hobbs is an ex-DSS agent and Deckard Shaw, Hattie's older brother, is an ex-MI6 agent who was recently pardoned for his criminal activities. They are informed of the missing virus and, after arguing due to their past as fierce rivals, reluctantly work together to track it down. After a brief meeting at a CIA black site at 122 Leadenhall Street, Deckard goes to Hattie's apartment for information, but he is attacked by Eteon operatives. Luke finds Hattie, who instigates a fight with him, but Luke manages to bring her to a CIA office. As Deckard arrives and informs Luke that Hattie is his sister, the office is attacked by Eteon forces.

Hattie is kidnapped by Brixton, whom Deckard recognizes as an old colleague-turned-enemy he thought that he killed. Luke and Deckard rescue Hattie and evade Brixton during an ensuing car chase. However, Brixton frames all three as criminals via Eteon's control of global news media. The three locate Snowflake's creator Prof. Andreiko and learn that he purposed it to efficiently deliver vaccines; to prevent Eteon from using it to eradicate humanity, Hattie must either be cremated, while the virus is still dormant or have it removed with a specialized extraction device located at Eteon's facility in Chernobyl. Despite Luke briefly being detained at the airport due to Deckard giving him the fake name Mike Oxmaul, the three manage to travel to Moscow.

After rendezvousing with Deckard's ex-girlfriend Margarita to rearm in Moscow, the three infiltrate the facility. They retrieve the device before escaping in a truck during the facility's destruction, but Andreiko is killed by Brixton and the device is damaged. Luke takes Deckard and Hattie to his childhood home in Samoa to visit his estranged brother Jonah, a talented mechanic, to repair the device and lay low before confronting Brixton's forces again. Luke has a tense reunion with his family, to whom he has not spoken since he gave up his criminal father to the authorities. Despite Jonah's objections, their mother and Deckard convince him to help repair the device and oppose Eteon's incoming forces.

The makeshift battalion prepares for Eteon's arrival, disabling the weapons used by Eteon's team by temporarily shutting down their authorization code and setting up a variety of traps around the island. Jonah successfully repairs the device and starts the virus extraction just as Brixton and his army arrive. In the ensuing battle, the Samoans engage and easily overpower Brixton's reinforcements, while suffering minimal casualties. Brixton recaptures Hattie with a helicopter, but the Samoans join Luke and Deckard in bringing the aircraft down with several custom trucks. Luke and Deckard alternate their attacks to defeat Brixton, who is later killed remotely by Eteon's unseen director. The director sends a message claiming to know Luke and intending to persuade him and the Shaw siblings, while Luke and Deckard promise to track down the director. The group later celebrates their victory.

In post-credits scenes, Luke brings his daughter to meet extended family in Samoa, while Deckard and Hattie are implied to break their mother out of prison. Luke receives a call from his partner Locke, who has broken into a laboratory and discovered a more threatening virus. Luke also sets the police in London on Deckard in retaliation for the Mike Oxmaul prank, telling the police that Deckard's name is Hugh Janus.

Cast

In addition, Lori Pelenise Tuisano portrays Sefina Hobbs, the mother of Luke Hobbs and matriarch of the Hobbs family. Rob Delaney appears as CIA agent Loeb while the film's director David Leitch makes a cameo appearance as an Eteon helicopter pilot. Ryan Reynolds and Kevin Hart make uncredited cameo appearances as CIA agent Victor Locke and Air Marshal Dinkley, respectively. The Eteon Director, a role Keanu Reeves was in negotiations for, does not physically appear in the film, but is also voiced by Reynolds in a dual role, under the pseudonym "Champ Nightingale".

Production

Development

In October 2017, Universal Pictures announced a spin-off film in development centered around characters Luke Hobbs and Deckard Shaw, and set a release date of July 26, 2019, with Chris Morgan returning to write the script. Variety reported that Shane Black was being considered to direct the film. In February 2018, Deadpool 2 director David Leitch entered talks to direct the film. In April 2018, Leitch was confirmed as the director for the film and added David Scheunemann as a production designer.

In 2018, Neal Moritz, a primary producer of the Fast and the Furious films, sued Universal City Studios for breach of an oral agreement. The lawsuit was confidentially settled in 2020.

Casting

In July 2018, Vanessa Kirby was cast in the film to play an MI6 agent and Shaw's sister, along with Idris Elba as the main villain in the film. In October 2018, Eddie Marsan joined the cast of the film, and in November 2018, Eiza González was added as well. In January 2019, Johnson revealed that his cousin and professional wrestler Roman Reigns would appear in the film as Hobbs's brother. Additionally, he announced that Cliff Curtis, Josh Mauga, and John Tui would portray other brothers of Hobbs. Helen Mirren was also confirmed to be reprising her role from The Fate of the Furious.

Filming

Principal photography began on September 10, 2018, in London, England. Dwayne Johnson joined the production two weeks later, on September 24, 2018, after he had wrapped filming Jungle Cruise. Most filming was done at Shepperton Studios and Leavesden Studios. In October, filming moved to Glasgow, Scotland, to recreate London. Filming also took place in late 2018 at Eggborough power station in North Yorkshire, and in Farnborough, Hampshire. The Hawaiian island of Kauaʻi was used as a stand-in for Samoa for the film's third act. Cinematographer Jonathan Sela shot the film with Arri Alexa SXT and Alexa Mini digital cameras and Hawk Class-X anamorphic lenses. Production officially wrapped on January 27, 2019. Scroggins Aviation Mockup & Effects was hired to supply a UH-60 Black Hawk (s/n 79-23354) in the film. Scroggins made modification to the UH-60 and worked with the art department to supply it with a digital cockpit panel.