Speed Philippines – July 2019

88 JULY 2019

PRESS PLAY

WORDS AYIE LICSI

WORDS CARMELA MARAAN FERNANDO

Fast & Furious Presents:

Hobbs & Shaw

many tough guys does
it take to bring down a ghost?
Specifically, a ghost in the form
of a cybernetically enhanced
juggernaut who’s deadly,
unstoppable, and out for blood?

Over the years, America’s
Diplomatic Security Service
agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne
Johnson) and British military
elite operative-turned-vigilante
Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham)
have always been at each other’s
throats with no chance
of reconciling their differences.
Now they’re back at it in Fast &
Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw,
but this time, their war isn’t
against each other.

Idris Elba plays the superhuman
and underground (hence, ghost)
anarchist Brixton who’s set to
take over humanity when he
goes on a full-scale hunt for MI6
agent and Shaw’s sister Hattie
(Vanessa Kirby) to gain control
of a deadly biological weapon.
Can the lawman and the lawless
set aside their enmity long
enough to prevent an impending
international threat?

HOW

Opens July 31 • Universal Pictures

While considered a spin-off of

the Fast & Furious franchise,

Hobbs & Shaw is packed with

more intense action sequences

that will make its predecessors

look tame by comparison. First, it

takes the action around the globe,

from LA to London, all the way

to the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone

and landing in the vividly lush

Samoan territory.

There also won’t be any shortage

of powerful characters here.

Helen Mirren will reprise her

role as Magdalena Shaw, mum

to Deckard and Hattie, and Baby

Driver’s Eiza Gonzalez will play

the formidable Madam M.

The family theme extends to

the Hobbs clan with Johnson’s

Quentin Tarantino is known for

his violent cinematic mind. Think

Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill and you

know what we mean.

While his flicks are violent, this

visionary director’s got a lot of

heart. Tarantino’s newest movie is

his most personal one yet, taking

five years to write. It’s basically

his love letter to Los Angeles,

his ode to the golden age of

cinema. Like every film he has

ever helmed, Once Upon a Time

in Hollywood is a masterpiece of

violence and aesthetics.

Back in 1969 Los Angeles,

television actor Rick Dalton

(Leonardo DiCaprio) and his stunt

double and best friend Cliff Booth

(Brad Pitt) struggle to get into

the film industry. Meanwhile,

Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie)

and her husband Roman Polanski

(Rafał Zawierucha) move into

Dalton’s neighborhood. Things

get complicated when Sharon

and her friends get kidnapped

by the Manson Family, who’s

notorious for stalking and preying

on the locals.

Film buffs will certainly enjoy

the nostalgic movie references

from this flick such as nods to

The Green Hornet, Lancer and

more. Another trivia: Dalton is

actually based on late actor

Burt Reynolds, while his buddy

Cliff is inspired by stuntman and

filmmaker Hal Needham.

Once Upon A Time in Hollywood

also stars Kurt Russell, Timothy

Olyphant, Dakota Fanning, Luke

Perry, Margaret Qualley, and

Al Pacino.

Once Upon

a Time in

Hollywood

Opens July 25 • Columbia Pictures

cousin and WWE superstar

Roman Reigns, aka Joe Anoa’i,

who debuts on the big screen

as Hobbs’s brother. And joining

him are Fear the Walking Dead’s

Cliff Curtis, Josh Mauga, and

John Tui, who will appear as his

other brothers who operate a

custom vintage car shop service

in Samoa.

“In Samoa we have another

saying which is ‘Ou te le tau

to’atasi ae matou te tau fa’atasi’

which means, ‘When you fight

one, you fight us ALL’,” says

Johnson in an promotional

Instagram post for the movie.

Director David Leitch also

described the movie

as “something fresh

and different.”

“Hobbs and Shaw come from

the agent-and-spy world,”

he explains. “It’s obviously

about their banter and their

relationship, but it’s more about

expanding their world and their

connections, and creating a

family in a slightly different

universe. It’s going to be fun.”