Aug 14

Aug 14 PODCAST: The Fast and Furious franchise switches gears with “Hobbs & Shaw”

And so it has come to this.

A Fast and Furious cinematic universe.

In hindsight, we should have seen this coming. The Fast franchise has never been averse to experimentation: What started out as a story about two dudes street-racing while running from the law, evolved into an epic narrative about an indestructible family of superhumans saving the world - while running from the law. For a casual observers, these movies may seem like your typical unambitious action blockbusters that aim for nothing than to titillate your eyes with car chases and explosions; but the hardcore familias know that the franchise is anything but conventional.

Did you think that this franchise plays out in linear fashion? Think again. Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift, the third installment that came out in 2006, is set AFTER the events of Fast & Furious 6 (2013).

Did you think that every movie in this franchise starred Vin Diesel? Wrong. He was nowhere in sight in the much maligned 2Fast2Furious, and only showed up in a cameo during the final moments of Tokyo Drift.

The key to the franchise’s success is its willingness to adapt and change in order to cater to the entertainment needs of its audience. You love extravagant car stunts? They will give you cars sky-diving out of an airplane. Is that not enough for you? Well how about a sequence where Vin Diesel catches Michelle Rodrigues mid-air as she gets catapulted from a tank?

To ground all the ridiculousness of its spectacle, of course, is the not-so-subtle theme: The importance of Corona- I mean, family. And Hobbs & Shaw , the franchise’s first official spin-off starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Jason Statham, Vanessa Kirby, and Idris Elba, continues this narrative thread - but with a slightly different twist.

This episode on the Spoiler Nation Podcast, join us as we hit the accelerator and drive down the spoiler-filled road of Hobbs and Shaw.