Jason Statham

It may not have made a lick of sense within the emotional continuity of the series, but it’s hard to argue that the comedic highlight of The Fate of the Furious was Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham’s snappy banter. Johnson’s Hobbs winds up in jail right across the hall from his old arch-nemesis Deckard Shaw, played by Statham, and their chemistry is immediate and hilarious. Their playful back-and-forth throughout F8 kept things light and fun even as Dominic Toretto sold out his beloved family to work for Charlize Theron’s evil hacker Cipher.

My theory that every Fast & Furious movie is essentially a fanfiction of the one that came before was proven correct this afternoon when it was announced that there is a spinoff in the works starring Jason Statham’s Decker Shaw and Dwayne Johnson’s Luke Hobbs. The two of them had, by far, one of the best sequences in The Fate of the Furious — that giant prison fight — and their animosity-turned-friendship is one of the great joys of the new movie. (I guess we’re just forgetting about the fact that Shaw killed Han Seoul-Oh a couple movies ago #JusticeForHan.) Apparently, the idea for a spinoff came from a deleted scene that Statham and Johnson shot to tack onto the very end of the movie, which the producers loved so much they wanted to save it for its own movie.

While fans have mostly been enthusiastic about the expanded role of Jason Statham in The Fate of the Furious, there is one thing that has stuck in their collective craw. While Statham’s character has the movie’s best moments, he never stops to address the elephant in the room: Shaw did kill Sung Kang’s Han, perhaps the most beloved character in the franchise and (we assumed) an unforgivable offense for a movie built on family. Will the filmmakers address this in a future installment of the Fast and the Furious films? Or, perhaps more intriguing, could Sung Kang find his way back into the franchise?

Audiences who stuck around after the end credits of newly released cinematic demolition derby The Fate of the Furious were disappointed to learn that there would be no bonus stinger scene, as has been customary in past installments of the franchise. (In addition to the pre-existing disappointment resulting from learning that Charlize Theron’s character is named Cipher.) It’s atypical for the series to refrain from teasing its next ride, and many fans are wondering what gives. Wonder no longer! Vin Diesel, as fate would have it, is reportedly to blame.

It's Black Friday and most people have been off the past few days but that doesn't make it any less of a Friday, so happy Friday! In theaters this week there are a few new movies coming out. The two new ones I'll be looking at are Disney's latest animated movie, Frozen and Homefront with James Franco and Jason Statham who plays an ex-DEA agent trying to keep his daughter away from it all in a smal