Warning: SPOILERS for Hobbs & Shaw.
Here are our biggest questions about Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw. Directed by David Leitch (Deadpool 2), the second spinoff in the Fast & Furious franchise is about heroic federal agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) being forced to team up with his adversary, British mercenary Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham). Mixing like oil and water, Hobbs and Shaw find themselves trying to save the world from Eteon, a mysterious organization trying to wipe out a portion of the human race with a deadly virus.
In the true spirit of Fast & Furious, Hobbs & Shaw is about family. Initially, the two bald action heroes come to blows trying to save Deckard’s sister Hattie (Vanessa Kirby), a seemingly rogue MI6 agent who injected the CT17 virus, dubbed “Snowflake”, into herself in order to keep it out of the reach of Eteon and their cybernetically-enhanced agent, Brixton Lore (Idris Elba). In an adventure that rockets from London to Moscow to Ukraine to the island of Samoa, Hobbs and the Shaw siblings eventually recruit the entire Hobbs family to help them fight off Eteon and save the world. Also, new characters join the Fast franchise, including CIA agents Locke (Ryan Reynolds) and Loeb (Rob Delaney), and Air Marshal Dinkley (Kevin Hart), setting the stage for a new team led by Hobbs and Shaw to assemble in the sequel.
While Hobbs & Shaw succeeds in being over-the-top entertaining in true Fast & Furious style, the film’s inconsistent timeline can be bewildering to follow. Hobbs & Shaw has plenty of action and jokes in the form of Luke and Deckard constantly insulting each other, but this still doesn’t hide the bizarre leaps of logic throughout the film. Here are our 10 biggest questions from Hobbs & Shaw.
10. Why Aren’t There Time Zones In Hobbs & Shaw?
The international scope of the Fast & Furious films is a big reason why they are globally popular and Hobbs & Shaw is no different - but time zones don’t seem to exist in this spinoff. The film starts with Hobbs at home in LA and Shaw in London but Hobbs & Shaw starts by showing the two lead characters going about their daily business simultaneously as if the UK isn’t 8 hours ahead of Los Angeles. And yet, in Hobbs & Shaw, it’s always daytime in London and LA at the same time, which is impossible.
On the other hand, considering how nonsensical the countdown timer of the Snowflake virus is, ignoring the existence of time zones made it easier for Hobbs & Shaw to play fast and loose with their international travel as well as change how long Hattie had to live as the movie progressed.
9. Who Was The Woman Shaw Woke Up Next To?
At the start of Hobbs & Shaw, Deckard is shown waking up next to an unidentified brunette. But as the ex-mercenary goes into the kitchen, makes himself an omelet, and starts off his day, this mystery woman is never seen or referenced again. Now, the woman could just be a random fling for Shaw but if not, was she actually Madam M (Eiza Gonzalez), who Shaw turned to for help in Moscow? That would explain Shaw and M’s surprising lip-lock that grossed out Hobbs and Hattie. Either way, the film didn’t pause for much of an explanation about Madam M, besides her being the leader of a group of international thieves, and what her history and relationship with Deckard actually is.
8. Why Were They Looking For A Virus BEFORE They Found Out About Hattie & Snowflake?
The opening montage introducing Hobbs and Shaw at the start of the film is incredibly confusing: Both men receive phone calls from unidentified callers and are given missions. Hobbs smashes through an LA tattoo parlor looking for into on “a killer virus”. Shaw attacks a high-end London club and interrogates a criminal asking about Eteon. But who called them and gave them these missions?
Further, those missions contradict what happens next: Locke interrupts Hobbs and his daughter’s breakfast at a diner and gives Luke a file on Hattie’s theft of Snowflake, which he says happened “last night” - the same time Hobbs and Shaw were on their missions - so what “killer virus” was Hobbs asking about if this meeting with Locke was the first Luke heard of Snowflake? The same inconsistency happened with Shaw, who met with Loeb after visiting his mother Queenie (Helen Mirren) in a London prison; Loeb told Shaw about Eteon at that point. The missions Hobbs and Shaw went on when the film began don’t line up with the timeline of the movie’s main story.
7. How Did Hobbs Not Know Hattie Was Deckard’s Sister?
After Hobbs arrives in London, he checks in with the CIA black site and then quickly locates Hattie. After a brief (non-lethal, which is how Luke knew Hattie was trustworthy) fight, Hobbs apprehends the MI6 fugitive and brings her back to the black site. Deckard then arrives and a Mexican standoff begins between Hobbs, Deckard, and Hattie until Brixton Lore attacks the building. But during the Mexican standoff, Deckard and Hattie are both repulsed by Hobbs call her his “girlfriend” until Deckard clarifies Hattie is his sister.
This was built as a funny joke where Hobbs realizes Hattie and Deckard are siblings but it makes no sense. How did Hobbs not know who Hattie was? Locke gave him her file - did Hobbs not read it and only fixate on her “very attractive” photo? Plus her name is “Hattie Shaw” but somehow, that didn’t raise a red flag with the D.S.S. agent who has already fought Deckard Shaw and Owen Shaw in the past few years?
6. What Happened 8 Years Ago Between Deckard And Brixton?
There’s a grudge between Deckard Shaw and Brixton Lore that goes way back but Hobbs & Shaw only gave scant details. We know they worked together in MI6 and 8 years ago, Shaw shot Brixton (“two to the chest, one to the head, just like they taught us”) and believed he killed Lore. Brixton was then saved by Eteon and cybernetically enhanced into a super-soldier. But what really went down in the past between Deckard and Brixton? Now that Lore is dead (presumably), we might never know - unless Brixton returns in Hobbs & Shaw 2.
5. Why Was Brixton The Only Upgraded Eteon Soldier?
Brixton Lore was a formidable enemy that it took both Hobbs and Shaw working as a tandem to ultimately defeat. However, why was Brixton the only one who was turned into a cyborg by Eteon? The secret organization is supposed to be made up of elite soldiers but they weren’t much of a challenge for Hobbs, the Shaw siblings, or the extended Hobbs family in Samoa. If Eteon’s soldiers were all enhanced like Brixton, they would have been impossible to beat. And yet, for unknown reasons, Eteon only made one cyber solider. In fact, Brixton told his men that winning the mission in Samoa would be how they would “earn your enhancements” - but it looks like none of those soldiers are getting enhanced now.
4. Who Is Eteon’s Mystery Director And What Is His History With Hobbs?
Eteon has a mysterious Director who only appears as a voice. The biggest clue Hobbs & Shaw offers to his or her identity is that the Director “has a history” with Luke Hobbs. Otherwise, Eteon and its Director are set up to be ongoing villains in Hobbs & Shaw 2. So who is the Director? It could be a past Fast & Furious villain like Cipher (Charlize Theron) or Owen Shaw (Luke Evans). Or it could be someone new, like the unnamed character John Cena is playing in Fast & Furious 9 (and Cena’s history with Dwayne Johnson would make the Director’s comment about Hobbs very meta). Dwayne Johnson admitted that the Director was once meant to be played by Keanu Reeves but now it’s an open mystery to be solved in a sequel.
3. How Did Eteon Not Detect Hattie Hacking Their Guns?
Eteon’s reach and technical proficiency are apparently massive. Not only have they been operating in the shadows for several years, but they are also involved in cybernetics, chemical warfare, and they have a private army. Eteon also “controls the media” because they were able to publicly denounce Hobbs, Deckard, and Hattie as international fugitives and it was worldwide news. So how did Eteon not detect something as basic as Hattie hacking into their system and disabling their soldiers’ guns? Somehow, with just a glove she stole from Eteon’s Chernobyl base, Hattie was improbably able to use a laptop in Samoa to take out Eteon’s network for 6 minutes. How did Eteon not detect this hack and shut it down right away?
2. Why Did Locke Ruin The Game Of Thrones Finale For No Reason?
Game of Thrones gets a lot of love in Hobbs & Shaw. In the amusing end-credits scenes: Locke calls Luke and informs him that there’s a second virus that melts people’s skin off now stolen by Eteon, which sets up Hobbs & Shaw 2. But then Locke inexplicably spoils the Game of Thrones finale, detailing Daenerys Targaryen’s final fate at the ends of Jon Snow. Why did that motormouth Locke (and Hobbs & Shaw the film) do this?
Granted, within the context of Hobbs & Shaw, Locke wasn’t spoiling Game of Thrones for Hobbs. Locke was shot and going into shock as he was on the phone with his “best friend” and he was just speaking in a stream of consciousness. Locke also knew from the scene in the diner that Hobbs was all caught up on Game of Thrones. However, not everyone in the audience watching Hobbs & Shaw would know the ending twist of the HBO series so it’s baffling why Hobbs & Shaw would spoil it at all.
1. Where Is Owen Shaw?
Hobbs & Shaw ends with a big Hobbs family reunion in Samoa. Meanwhile, in London, Deckard and Hattie visit their mom in prison (and break her out), granting Queenie’s wish to see her two children reunited. Except for one thing: Queenie has another son, too. So where is Owen Shaw, Hattie, and Deckard’s little brother?
There’s a quick reference by Deckard that Eteon “made me kill my own brother”, which has huge implications, but Hobbs & Shaw doesn’t follow through on what this could mean. Owen was last seen aboard Cipher’s plane in The Fate of the Furious ordering the pilot to land at gunpoint; if the plane crashed instead, this could be what Deckard was referring to. In Hobbs & Shaw, Owen was (sort of) referenced in a flashback to when Deckard and Hattie were younger; during one of their youthful scams, an unidentified boy was in the background who could have been young Owen. While the true whereabouts of the missing Shaw sibling seems like it was purposefully kept a mystery, Owen’s absence is still jarring considering Hobbs & Shaw’s emphasis on family.
Next: Hobbs & Shaw’s Ending Is The Most Nonsensical Of The Summer
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