While visiting my daily interweb haunts, I saw this article about the Hobbs & Shaw movie, or the full title Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, which made me nod my head in agreement at the title alone. Watching the Fast & Furious movies has always been an enjoyable experience, and I get genuinely excited about each new entry. They are exciting adrenaline boilers that keep you wondering how the movies can keep going. Each film makes me nervous it will swing too far toward nonsensical rubbish. Regardless, I know all the new movies will be over the top. I’ve accepted and embraced it; I’ll still watch them. With that, I saw Hobbs & Shaw opening night with a fair mix of excitement and trepidation. I had memories of The Fate of the Furious ratcheting up the ridiculousness almost to detrimental consequence, and my second viewing ahead of Hobbs & Shaw confirmed that sentiment. Submarine chases, a remotely controlled carpocalyse, and Vin Diesel’s invincibility with flame retardant powers (watch the movie, your jaw will drop at the outlandishness) make for intense cinema, but it may have been too intense. I also like Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham and love watching them crunch through on-screen baddies while spitting out predictably unclever one-liners. It all makes for good popcorn-munch fuel. What it doesn’t do, however, is allow the franchise to stay grounded. How could it? Each new entry has to crank up the intensity and spectacle to justify its existence.

I’ve never needed MORE from sequels, especially the Fast & Furious franchise. I liked the first movie, so just do MORE of that. If the first movie was well-received, why not make that type of movie again while propelling the story forward? Take what people like about the predecessor, carry it forward to the sequel, and find ways to make it better, not louder.

While the action and sense of breakneck speed is the foundation of the franchise, they would not have been successful without the characters, and I love all the characters…except Roman. Roman has become too much of a caricature, and that’s what they all risk becoming. Some character arcs continue to evolve while others are now stunted or completely idle. Dominic Toretto and Brian O’Connor have always been, to me, the most interesting characters. Their evolving relationship was a vortex that pulled everyone else together. Paul Walker’s unfortunate death forced the franchise down a different path with a new focus. I don’t know what that focus is, but it feels to have shifted from high-speed finesse to blunt force destruction.

The Fate of the Furious was okay. Hobbs & Shaw is okay. I’m a fan of the latest movie’s cast and got what I expected from them. Overall, however, it pushed what I’m willing to accept from the franchise, and it’s probably time to recalibrate where it’s going. Please keep making these movies, just make them better.