Hobbs & Shaw Gets An Official Trailer

Luke Hobbs and Deckard Shaw are back, and they're as Fast & Furious as ever.

The trailer for the spin-off flick Hobbs & Shaw dropped this morning on YouTube, and it comes just as loaded with quips, butt-kicking, and explosions as you'd expect — plus, it gives us an awesome first look at Idris Elba's villain, Brixton.

As we recently reported, Dwayne Johnson has promised that while his Hobbs and Jason Statham's Shaw will not appear in the forthcoming Fast & Furious 9, their spin-off vehicle will offer "the biggest showdown the Fast & Furious universe has ever seen." After viewing this trailer, it's a bit more clear what he was talking about.

The spot opens on Elba's Brixton, first seen tearing around in a hot car and strolling through a nightclub filled with scantily clad women (par for the course here) before undergoing some kind of high-tech procedure which endows him with, well, superpowers. "I am human evolutionary change," the character says in a voiceover. "Bulletproof... superhuman." We then see him confronted by Vanessa Kirby's Hattie Shaw (an MI-6 agent and Deckard's sister), who demands to know at gunpoint, "who the hell are you?" Brixton's reply is direct and to the point: "Badguy." Cue a brief montage of Brixton kicking ass and taking names, while Hattie intones in voiceover, "The mission has been compromised. We need help."

Enter our heroes, seen going about their morning routines (Hobbs having a bowl of cereal, Shaw downing a pint) while we hear their eventual recruiter assessing the threat: "Our target's name is Brixton... he's a ghost. We're gonna need the best trackers in the business." The guys for the job then get their own quick butt-kicking montages, introducing themselves by way of one-liners: Hobbs describes himself as "an ice-cold can of whoop-ass" before proceeding to whoop some ass, and Shaw proclaims himself a "champagne popper" before popping a guy in the throat with a bottle of bubbly.

Hobbs & Shaw are then brought together by their recruiter, who warns them, "If we stand a chance against Brixton, you guys have to work together." Their reply, delivered in perfect unison: "No way! This guy's a real assh—" (This last is, of course, cut off by a timely burst of mic feedback.)

What follows is a rapid-fire dose of, well, fast and furious action, set to the strains of the War tune "Why Can't We Be Friends?" Then, the duo's presumed first encounter with Brixton, which... does not go well for them.

The spot is rounded out by some even more bonkers, physics-defying craziness, with Brixton's steely voiceover: "Hobbs and Shaw. You want a war... you've got one." It concludes with a sweet action setpiece in and around a moving glass elevator (punctuated with an awesome comedic moment that we won't spoil here) and a brief clip of our heroes engaging in two of their favorite pastimes simultaneously: taking punishment and exchanging quips.

It's tough to imagine that fans of the Fast & Furious franchise will be anything less than thrilled with this trailer, and it's obvious that the Rock wasn't just whistling Dixie when he pumped up the threat of Elba's villain. Hot car-drifting and nightclubbing aside, the superpowered baddie looks like he'd be right at home in a Marvel or DC film, and Elba's imposing presence and spot-on characterization only serve to make Brixton seem that much more badass. There's never been a villain quite like this in the franchise before, and given the near-cartoonish nature of the action which is the hallmark of the series, making the leap into full-on comic book movie territory just doesn't seem like that much of a stretch.

As for Hobbs and Shaw themselves, the excellent comic chemistry between Johnson and Statham is on full display here. Even though the threat is exceedingly grave, they never miss an opportunity to slip in a wisecrack, as befitting a film series that has never taken itself too seriously (to its benefit).

We've got to say, this one looks really, really promising. In a summer overstuffed with the long-awaited Marvel flicks Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home, not to mention such sure-fire blockbusters as Toy Story 4, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, and It: Chapter Two, Hobbs & Shaw shouldn't have any trouble carving out a profitable niche for itself by virtue of being a fun, hilarious, action-packed popcorn movie of the highest order. If you don't want to blast EDM while doing donuts in the movie theater parking lot after catching this film, we will personally refund the price of your ticket. (We're kidding. Don't do that.)

Hobbs & Shaw hits the screen on July 26, 2019.