CHENNAI: David Leitch’s latest “Fast and Furious” adventure, “Hobbs & Shaw,” needs no knowledge of its earlier eight stories. With Dwayne Johnson (Luke Hobbs), Jason Statham (Deckard Shaw) with Idris Alba (Brixton Lorr), there is never a dull moment. There is little rhyme or reason in the film’s 138 minutes, but “Fast and Furious” fans are not walking into theaters expecting anything less insane or illogical.

Defying the laws of gravity and the pain of torturous electrocution, Hobbs and Shaw race to save the world. They must first rescue Shaw’s sister Hattie (Vanessa Kirby), a British intelligence agent who has injected a deadly virus into herself so it does not fall into Lorr’s hands. He works for a group that wants to replace human beings with cyborgs.

With Lorr also after Hattie to get the virus, the chase by three seemingly super men turns into a wild game of cat and mouse. Despite car chases and flashing guns, these desperados rise again and again with inhuman grit. 

Although Johnson, Statham and Alba are impressive, Kirby steals the show with her lightening speed and dexterity. Her scenes with Statham (who is estranged from her in the movie) are compelling — a welcome emotional diversion in a work where bullets and brutality do all the talking.  

Strangely, the franchise has little of the original, which began as a racing film 18 years ago. And much like the “Bond” series, “Fast and Furious” has become cold and disinterested in human feelings. In “Hobbs & Shaw,” men turn into masses of muscle — and little else.