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The 'Hobbs & Shaw' plot hole that's got people scratching their heads

(Credit: Universal)
(Credit: Universal)

Clearly the Fast & Furious movies aren't Ken Loach.

Everyone is fully aware that stark realism isn't the strong point of the franchise which once featured a muscle car jumping from one skyscraper to another.

But the new spin-off movie, Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw, appears to have crossed a line.

In it, we're asked to believe that Jason Statham's Deckard Shaw and Vanessa Kirby's Hattie Shaw are brother and sister, the offspring of Helen Mirren's Magdalene 'Queenie' Shaw.

Fair enough, in theory it could be the case that Stath, 52, and The Crown’s Kirby, 31, could technically be siblings who are 21 years apart, given some unusual circumstances.

Statham and Kirby in Hobbs & Shaw (Credit: Universal)
Statham and Kirby in Hobbs & Shaw (Credit: Universal)

But credulity becomes a little stretched in the flashback childhood sequences, when we're expected to swallow that they're just a few years apart and playing together.

Read more: Hobbs & Shaw launches to $180m

It hasn't gone unnoticed.

Still, despite this contempt for its audience's intelligence – unless, of course, it was a mistake – fans of the franchise have come out in sizeable droves.

The movie has gone straight to number one in the US and world box office charts, with an opening of over $180 million.

Read more: David Leitch interested in directing Blade

While it comes in third place for debut weekends in the franchise (dwarfed by the number one, The Fate of the Furious which opened to $541 million), it's not bad going for the first spin-off film in the series.

LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 23:  (L to R) Idris Elba, Dame Helen Mirren, Vanessa Kirby and Jason Statham attend a special screening of "Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw" at The Curzon Mayfair on July 23, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by David M. Benett/Dave Benett/WireImage)
LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 23: (L to R) Idris Elba, Dame Helen Mirren, Vanessa Kirby and Jason Statham attend a special screening of "Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw" at The Curzon Mayfair on July 23, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by David M. Benett/Dave Benett/WireImage)
Johnson and Statham in Hobbs & Shaw (Credit: Universal)
Johnson and Statham in Hobbs & Shaw (Credit: Universal)

And there could be more to come, according to director David Leitch.

He told Screenrant: “My intention was - and I hope that the studio hears that - is that we wanted to build a world that was fertile ground for spin-offs.

“When I came on board, the idea was, 'How can I immediately with this film, strike a pose to build out Hobbs' and Shaw's individual worlds so that they could do their own their own films?'

“But then also, characters in that world could have the ability to do their own, as well.”

Hobbs & Shaw is out now across the UK.