Dwayne Johnson And Jason Statham's Fast & Furious Spin-Off Is Streaming For Free

Jason Statham and Dwayne Johnson's "Fast & Furious" spin-off — get ready for a killer name — "Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw" is now available to watch for free with ads. Streaming through Tubi, the 2019 spin-off has landed on the budget-conscious streamer after doing the paid-for or subscription-based circuit for a number of years. The film follows prior villains Hobbs and Shaw as they try to prevent a cyber-enhanced terrorist from unleashing a virus upon the world.

The film is exactly what you think, following the ridiculousness of the main films. Bombast as large as Johnson's biceps and action as smooth as the top of Statham's dome. It also features Idris Elba as the villain, Brixton Lore, as well as Vanessa Kirby (Susan Storm in "The Fantastic Four: First Steps") and Helen Mirren. As with other action films in its vein, this is the perfect turn your brain off for two hours kind of film.

Statham is always a pleasure to watch work on screen, with his clean-for-screen, rough-London attitude shining through against Johnson's incredibly American action star moves. However, much like the rest of the franchise, "Hobbs & Shaw" just isn't a real thinker and doesn't try to be. What it does lack is the rest of the "Fast & Furious" crew, and though the "we're family" themes around the mainline films are attempted to be implanted here, it just never truly works.

"Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw" was followed by "Fast X," which saw Johnson take a backseat and only make a brief mid-credits appearance. "Hobbs & Shaw" was supposed to get a direct sequel, but this was canned in favor of a project featuring Johnson in "Hobbs & Reyes," casting the returning Jason Momoa, who also played a villain in "Fast X." However, that film was announced in 2023, and there's been no news of it since. Users online speculate that it has been quietly canceled.

According to reporting, the follow-up film would tie into "Fast Forever," the eleventh film in the main franchise. IMDb has listed Statham and Johnson as returning for the film, but this is likely algorithms and user input rather than studio confirmation. It's still a solid bet that the two will show up in the film, but it's also possible that, due to behind-the-scenes drama, it could all be torpedoed by egos.

Many reports describe the ongoing rivalry between Vin Diesel (who became a breakout star thanks to films like "Pitch Black"), who plays the main character Dominic Toretto, and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Ultimately, this may have stemmed from Johnson's character being more popular than Diesel's. Brought in as the bad guy in "Fast Five," Hobbs was a breakout character in the ensemble thanks to Johnson's enigmatic appearance against the more brooding Diesel. In the seventh movie, despite not being featured in it for much of the film, there is a highlight when Johnson flexes to break out of his cast in the hospital.

This purportedly rubbed Diesel the wrong way. On top of this, both Statham and Johnson had contract clauses about being beaten up on screen — if one gets a punch, the other has to as well. Since the fallout began, Hobbs has taken more of a background role in the film franchise. Recent additions, alongside Momoa and Statham, who have remained somewhat prominent, include John Cena, an ex-wrestler like Johnson. Cena has effectively combined the two roles into one, with him being a hyper-muscular, conniving thief.

Either way, you can watch that hyper-muscularity — which the now 54-year-old has somewhat dropped since those days — with ads on Tubi. It's not the best film in the world, but much like the rest of the "Fast & Furious" movies, there's always something to like.