Tag: Vanessa Kirby

Fast And Furious Presents: Hobbs And Shaw

2019   Universal Pictures

Rated:  PG-13

Length:  2 hr  17min

Action ~ Adventure ~ Thriller

Directed by:  David Leitch

Starring:  Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Idris Elba, Vanessa Kirby, Eiza González, Cliff Curtis, and Helen Mirren.

Nothing is stronger than family.

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw centers on two reluctant allies, Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham), who are forced to team up amidst a high-stakes pursuit of a powerful super virus that could potentially wipe out the entire human race. The story begins in London, where MI6 agent Hattie Shaw ( Vanessa Kirby), Deckard’s younger sister, acquires a programmable super virus called “Snowflake” from a cyberterrorist group named Eteon. After a violent attack by Brixton Lore (Idris Elba), an enhanced ex-MI6 agent with cybernetic abilities who kills her team, Hattie injects herself with the virus to keep it from falling into enemy hands and is then framed as a criminal on the run.

Hobbs, an ex-DSS agent estranged from his Samoan family, and Shaw, an ex-MI6 agent with a complicated past, are independently tasked to track down the missing virus by CIA Agent Victor Locke (Played by Ryan Reynolds in an uncredited Cameo Role). They initially clash due to their rivalry but eventually must collaborate to find and rescue Hattie. Their mission leads them through intense action sequences, including a daring car chase and battles against Eteon’s forces, as the trio uncovers the deadly potential of the virus and the high stakes of Brixton’s plan for global dominance.

They try to trick their way into the Eteon Lab where there is a virus extraction machine that can recover the virus capsules from inside Hattie. But the machine is damaged as they escape the lab with it. With everyone looking for them after Eteon plastered their pictures all over every news media in the world, Hobbs decides there is only one place they can go. The one place he never wanted to go back to, home to Samoa. Knowing that they would be safe on the remote island with his estranged family long enough to fix the machine and extract the virus, they head to Samoa.

Hobbs has a complicated but deep relationship with his brother Jonah, who initially feels hurt and neglected because Hobbs had been absent from his family’s life for a long time. When Hobbs returns to Samoa, there’s tension between them, but they eventually begin to reconnect and rebuild their bond. This reconciliation is important because it not only strengthens their family ties but also becomes vital in the fight ahead, and Hobbs knows that Jonah has the expertise and the technology to fix the Virus Capsule extraction machine.

The Samoan community, led by Hobbs and supported by his brother and other family members, comes together to prepare for an epic battle against Brixton, who threatens global destruction with a deadly virus. The brothers draw on their Samoan heritage and warrior spirit, merging traditional strength and modern tactics to stand against the coming enemy. This powerful alliance of family and community showcases themes of unity, loyalty, and courage as they put everything on the line to protect humanity from a catastrophic threat. Their fight is not just personal—it is a struggle for the survival of innocent lives everywhere.

I have seen this movie a few times and I was anxious to watch it again after I found out it was going to be on Netflix with most of The Fast And The Furious Franchise. It does not disappoint, with such Star Power, how could it? I am a huge Jason Statham fan and a big fan of Dwayne Johnson, and the two together are perfect in my opinion. More, please! I had forgotten how much of a Bad-Ass Vanessa Kirby is in this movie, from the very beginning she holds her own with Statham and Johnson, giving The Rock a run for his money in one scene. Awesome job by Vanessa! I just watched her in Night Always Comes and really enjoyed her in that one as well. I thought she was really good as Josephine De Beauharnais in Napoleon, which is a really good movie also.

I feel like I could go on for days about this movie I like it so much….Idris Alba is excellent as the evil cyborg trying to rid the planet of the weak side of humanity. That motorcycle of his is something else! Wicked special effects on that one! And the last part of the movie where Hobbs goes home to Samoa is great. Watching his Mom break bad with a flip-flop that EVERYONE on the island respects was hilarious and heart-warming. You see the love and sense of family they all have for each other. Getting a glimpse of the Samoan culture and their fierce Warrior Spirit was awe-Inspiring. Kevin Hart also has an uncredited Cameo as a US Air Marshall. And on and on and on….. Seriously….do yourself a favor..

Grab A Beverage,

Make Some Popcorn

And Stream This Movie!

And when the credits start to roll don’t look away,

there are two more small scenes in the midst of the credits,

Don’t Miss Them!

Napoleon

Night Always Comes

Night Always Comes

2025   Netflix

Rated:  R

Length:  1 hr  48min

Crime ~ Drama ~ Thriller

Directed by:  Benjamin Caron

Starring:  Vanessa Kirby, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Zack Gottsagen, Stephen James, Randall Park, Julia Fox, Michael Kelly, and Eli Roth.

$25,000….1 Night….No Other Options

THE BOOK:

The Night Always Comes: A Novel by Willy Vlautin  – April 6, 2021

SYNOPSIS:

Barely thirty, Lynette is exhausted. Saddled with bad credit and juggling multiple jobs, some illegally, she’s been diligently working to buy the house she lives in with her mother and developmentally disabled brother Kenny. Portland’s housing prices have nearly quadrupled in fifteen years, and the owner is giving them a good deal. Lynette knows it’s their last best chance to own their own home—and obtain the security they’ve never had. While she has enough for the down payment, she needs her mother to cover the rest of the asking price. But a week before they’re set to sign the loan papers, her mother gets cold feet and reneges on her promise, pushing Lynette to her limits to find the money they need.

Set over two days and two nights, The Night Always Comes follows Lynette’s frantic search—an odyssey of hope and anguish that will bring her face to face with greedy rich men and ambitious hustlers, those benefiting and those left behind by a city in the throes of a transformative boom. As her desperation builds and her pleas for help go unanswered, Lynette makes a dangerous choice that sets her on a precarious, frenzied spiral. In trying to save her family’s future, she is plunged into the darkness of her past, and forced to confront the reality of her life.

A heart wrenching portrait of a woman hungry for security and a home in a rapidly changing city, The Night Always Comes raises the difficult questions we are often too afraid to ask ourselves: What is the price of gentrification, and how far are we really prepared to go to achieve the American Dream? Is the American dream even attainable for those living at the edges? Or for too many of us, is it only a hollow promise?

THE MOVIE:

FROM NETFLIX:

Night Always Comes follows Lynette (Vanessa Kirby), a woman who risks everything to secure the house that represents a future for her family. Lynette, who rises each morning before sunrise to juggle multiple jobs, which are not all on the level, while also caring for her mother Doreen and older brother Kenny. Lynette has been hardened by her hardscrabble life; her bedroom houses the washer-dryer, an oil furnace and a utility sink. There’s little or no money for new clothes or for treats. Lynette has gone without so she can save cash to purchase the ramshackle home her family has rented for decades in an area where the ‘G’ word,  gentrification, has left a bitter taste; the working classes are being pushed outta town. A plan had been in place to raise a mortgage on the property, but when that’s derailed she’s forced to undertake a desperate odyssey in a city of greed. Lynette has to confront dangerous people who owe her money. On a dangerous odyssey through a single night, Lynette is forced to confront her dark past in order to finally break free.

Night Always Comes is based on the May 17, 2022 Novel by Willy Vlautin. According to Producer Benjamin Caron (From Netflix Tudum):

“The emotional core of the book was my compass, but there’s a heightened sense of immediacy and propulsion to cinema where the audience feels every blow and every betrayal and every hope. The adaptation became even more of a character-driven thriller with Lynette at the center of every frame. I also opened up the book by having Portland itself become a character in the movie, the contrast between the city’s foreclosed buildings and the gentrified neighborhoods reflecting Lynette’s personal crisis.” 

“Lynette is driven by a desperate need for security, for the idea of home as much as, I guess, the reality of it. Yet she is haunted by the fear that she doesn’t deserve it. Her journey is a study in propulsion. Each decision, no matter how reckless, is an attempt to outrun her past and carve out a future.” 

“Vanessa brings a beautifully wild energy to Lynette, making the character unpredictable and deeply, deeply human. Together, we worked on creating a character who is simply not just reacting to the world, but desperately trying to wrest control of her future, even as she teeters on the edge of self-destruction,” says Caron, who believes Kirby’s contributions as a producer were also invaluable. “Vanessa was creatively involved from the ground up, which was brilliant. To have someone that was both an actor and producer was incredibly exciting to me.” 

THE REVIEW:

Night Always Comes is an electrifying urban thriller that hooked me from the opening scene and never let go. Adapted from Willy Vlautin’s novel, the film plunges viewers into a high-stakes, emotionally raw quest as Lynette (Vanessa Kirby) races against the clock to secure her family’s future in a rapidly gentrifying Portland. What I loved about this movie was its tense, ticking-clock atmosphere and urgent pacing; every frame brims with suspense and desperation as Lynette scrambles overnight to raise $25,000, making tough choices and confronting her past. The story beautifully balances grit and empathy, adding layers to its social commentary about housing insecurity and class struggles.

The cast is simply phenomenal. Jennifer Jason Leigh delivers a quietly devastating turn as Lynette’s unreliable mother, Doreen, showing a complexity that deepens every family scene. Zack Gottsagen is moving as Kenny, Lynette’s brother, whose innocence amplifies the stakes and heartbreak, and together, their performances ground the story in vulnerability and hope. But the reason I was truly captivated is Vanessa Kirby. She dominates the screen and brings such emotional urgency, versatility, and empathy to Lynette that I couldn’t look away. Kirby channels every stage of desperation, pain, and resolve with a haunting depth; she’s the beating heart of the film, making every moment memorable. The chemistry among these three, especially Kirby’s dynamic with Gottsagen and Leigh, represents the best of ensemble acting, elevating a tense genre drama into a resonant journey about family and survival.

It is a deep dark social commentary centered on one woman’s struggle to survive and rise above. It is not pretty, it is not a Hallmark movie, It is realism, sadness and desperation at it’s raw core and yet it is the triumph of survival and the eternal hope of a better life.

ANOTHER GREAT VANESSA KIRBY MOVIE I RECOMMEND:

Napoleon

Night Always Comes Starring Vanessa Kirby coming To Netflix This Friday August 15, 2025

2025   Netflix

Rated:  R

Length:  1 hr  48min

Crime ~ Drama ~ Thriller

Directed by:  Benjamin Caron

Starring:  Vanessa Kirby, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Zack Gottsagen, Stephen James, Randall Park, Julia Fox, Michael Kelly, and Eli Roth.

$25,000….1 Night….No Other Options

Night Always Comes follows Lynette (Vanessa Kirby), a woman who risks everything to secure the house that represents a future for her family. Lynette, who rises each morning before sunrise to juggle multiple jobs, which are not all on the level, while also caring for her mother Doreen and older brother Kenny. Lynette has been hardened by her hardscrabble life; her bedroom houses the washer-dryer, an oil furnace and a utility sink. There’s little or no money for new clothes or for treats. Lynette has gone without so she can save cash to purchase the ramshackle home her family has rented for decades in an area where the ‘G’ word – gentrification – has left a bitter taste; the working classes are being pushed outta town. A plan had been in place to raise a mortgage on the property, but when that’s derailed she’s forced to undertake a desperate odyssey in a city of greed. Lynette has to confront dangerous people who owe her money. On a dangerous odyssey through a single night, Lynette is forced to confront her dark past in order to finally break free.

Night Always Comes is based on the May 17, 2022 Novel by Willy Vlautin. According to Producer Benjamin Caron (From Netflix Tudum):

“The emotional core of the book was my compass, but there’s a heightened sense of immediacy and propulsion to cinema where the audience feels every blow and every betrayal and every hope. The adaptation became even more of a character-driven thriller with Lynette at the center of every frame. I also opened up the book by having Portland itself become a character in the movie, the contrast between the city’s foreclosed buildings and the gentrified neighborhoods reflecting Lynette’s personal crisis.” 

“Lynette is driven by a desperate need for security, for the idea of home as much as, I guess, the reality of it. Yet she is haunted by the fear that she doesn’t deserve it. Her journey is a study in propulsion. Each decision, no matter how reckless, is an attempt to outrun her past and carve out a future.” 

“Vanessa brings a beautifully wild energy to Lynette, making the character unpredictable and deeply, deeply human. Together, we worked on creating a character who is simply not just reacting to the world, but desperately trying to wrest control of her future, even as she teeters on the edge of self-destruction,” says Caron, who believes Kirby’s contributions as a producer were also invaluable. “Vanessa was creatively involved from the ground up, which was brilliant. To have someone that was both an actor and producer was incredibly exciting to me.” 

Streaming on Netflix Friday August 15, 2025.

Napoleon

2023   Apple TV+

Rated :  R

Length:  2 hr  38min

Action ~ Biography ~ Drama ~ Epic ~ History ~ War

Directed by:  Ridley Scott

Starring:  Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby.

“People are driven by misery to revolution…..and brought back by revolution to misery.”

Joaquin Phoenix stars as Napoleon Bonaparte, the future Emperor of France. As the movie opens in 1793 amidst the French Revolution, Army officer Napoleon is watching the beheading of Marie Antoinette by the guillotine. He is soon offered the role of dealing with the British siege and driving the British ships out of the city’s Harbor. Being a skilled Army Officer with an astute knowledge of how to defeat and overcome the enemy, he studies the British and lays out a plan that succeeds. He is later charged with proving himself by being tasked with squashing the Royalists uprising. During the following celebrations of freedom after his success, a woman catches his eye and he can’t quit staring…………

Josephine De Beauharnais (Vanessa Kirby) approaches him and asks him why he is staring. That is the beginning of their life-long romance story. She is an Aristocratic widow with two children and it is not long before Napoleon and Josephine are married. Napoleon quickly rises up the ranks of the new French Government and is put in charge of the Army and France’s new security in the world. Eventually Napoleon and fellow collaborators overthrow the new French Government disagreeing with their leadership and handling of France. Napoleon quickly rises up to become the Emperor of France.

All the while he is off fighting for France, he pines for Josephine and their tumultuous relationship and marriage, neither being faithful yet loving and missing each other. Josephine’s affairs draw attention from the press of the day and Napoleon is constantly ridiculed for his promiscuous wife. Adding to their troubles is her attempts at getting pregnant and not producing an heir for the throne of France. Eventually under the pressure of producing an heir Napoleon is forced to publicly divorce Josephine and marry a y0unger woman who can produce a son for the throne.

It is a mighty epic of a film chronicling:

  • The History of France from the time at the end of the French revolution in 1793 through the final exile of Napoleon in 1815 to the island of Saint Helena off of Africa.
  • The main historic battles that Napoleon led and fought during his lifetime.
  • The tumultuous and lifelong relationship and love between Napoleon and Josephine up until both of their deaths.

It is fairly long at 2 hours and 38 minutes but it passed very quickly for me as I became very engrossed in the story and the movie. The directors cut is three hours and 24 minutes. I almost wish I had watched it instead. Director Ridley Scott says that it better fleshes out the movie compared to the theatrical version. It is well shot, the battle scenes are very realistic, like you were back in those times sitting right in the middle of it all watching the fighting all around you. The costumes and scenery were well designed, again you feel like you were transported back to that time sitting right in the middle of history, observing.

Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby did an excellent job of portraying Napoleon and Josephine, I thought they were perfect. And Joaquin as the shrewd military man outwitting his opponents was a wonder to watch. I really liked the Battle of Austerlitz scene where Napoleon dresses as a peasant to survey the surroundings and the enemy forces. He comes up with this brilliant plan and sets up camp at the edge of a frozen lake. Recently covered with snow it is hidden. He lures the enemy forces in and then broadsides them on both sides, forcing them onto the frozen lake as the only means out. Once he has them trapped on the ice he bombards the ice and they are all doomed to a frozen eternity.

I thought it was really good, an excellent very Epic Historic and Biographical War drama. I think Ridley Scott outdid himself with this Epic Portrayal.

Highly Recommended!

Two Thumbs up!