Hobbs and Shaw (Dir David Leitch, 2h 15m)

Nine films into the Fast and the Furious franchise, a steadily evolving franchise that has moved from people driving very fast in cool cars to people saving the world whilst driving very fast in cool cars, its two largest egos, Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) finally complete the transformation of the franchise into, what in essence, is an even more outlandish Mission Impossible with more cars. And yet, for all its jaw gaping ridiculousness, all its alpha-male posturing between Johnson, Statham and Idris Elba's "black Superman" villain, Brixton, all its ridiculously glorious setpiece madness, Hobbs and Shaw may be the best Fast and the Furious films, period.

When Shaw's sister, Hattie, (Vanessa Kirby) goes on the run after injecting herself with an eventually lethal virus to protect it from the villainous Brixton, and his shadowy, doomsday cultish employees who seek to perfect humanity, so both Hobbs and Shaw are brought in to track her down, protect her from Brixton, and retrieve the virus before it dooms her, and the rest of humanity to a unpleasant death, whilst solving their individual issues, and their problems with teamwork.  Leitch, no stranger to action movies, having both the bruising Atomic Blonde and the fourth-wall leaning superhero, Deadpool 2, adds both a greater sense of comedy, and a more physical, almost visceral sense to the action, whilst building on perhaps his greatest assets, Johnson and Statham.

For much of the film, the odd-couple antics of Statham and Johnson-I don't think i've laughed at a non-comedy in years- as Hobbs and Shaw comes from their differing backgrounds. Hobbs, for his part, is a Nitchzche quoting body-building tough guy, who dotes upon his daughter, and builds upon Johnson's considerable charms, whilst Statham, as the gangsterish, ice cold Shaw, whose cool menace begins to crack slowly over the film, is an altogether sharper wit. Nowhere is this seen better than in their splitscreen introductions, as Hobbs and Shaw go about their morning routines, their differing lifestyles, and even in the remarkably quick setting up of their mission.

Yet, it is in the evolution of this relationship, from the headbutting alpha males who start, much as they finished in FF8, trading insults and threatening blows, to a more holistic, if still occasionally antagonistic relationship. With Shaw's sister carrying the film's macguffin in her bloodstream, so we certainly see a softening of Shaw as a man, as he undergoes hardship and chaos to save her. Indeed, for a series that has never really had particularly strong female characters, other than a supporting group of technicians and relatives, it's somewhat refreshing to have a character like Hettie, going from a cold, and one could argue somewhat clinical figure to realising that they have grown apart and cut each other off.

For his part, it is Hobbs' family, in Samoa, which also forms the background to the film's finale, that proves to be his main piece of character development-it is in confronting his past, in coming home that proves to be Hobbs' most important move, despite the hardship that this causes, and in it, the film doubles down on its theme of heart, and family particularly in the face of the the technologically endowed Brixton. For his part, Idris Elba, as many of the F&F villains do, has utterly stolen the show, in his ruthless, terminator-esque, unstoppable majesty, he stalks through the heart of this movie, a consistent, and terrifying threat, with a surprisingly identifiable set of morals, albeit completely twisted and insane logically in his, and his boss's plan to destroy the weakest and artificially evolve the rest.

Of course, this being a Fast and the Furious film, much of this film is caught up in excellent setpieces, with Leitch bringing an increasing number of fight scenes between Hobbs and Shaw, and a seemingly never ending army of goons, on foot and in car, leading to enjoyably over-the-top action scenes that routinely veer into jawdropping visual insanity, from the opening raid of the film, to the finale on Samoa that goes from pitched battle to car chases to on foot punch up with a smooth efficiency

Rarely has the franchise felt this enjoyably physical, this bruising, this visceral, and twinned with perhaps the most dramatic this series has ever been, and with Hobbes and Shaw, so the franchise finally feels to have coalesced into something truly special

Rating: Highly Recommended.