While Hobbs & Shaw is part of the Fast & Furious franchise, the film did a lot to stand out from the original series. Most of the action is not automotively based for a start. From there, the movie has a much stronger comedic bent, an aspect that is only strengthened by a pair of cameos in the film. Both Ryan Reynolds and Kevin Hart made unexpected appearances in the film, and it appears that Hart went to some extensive lengths to make his appearance happen.
At this point, it feels like Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart are attached at the hip. They've made several movies together and are clearly real life friends. Knowing that, one would expect that Hart was just hanging around on the set of Hobbs & Shaw with his buddy Dwayne when they decided to throw him into the film. However, in the bonus features attached to the Hobbs & Shaw Blu-ray, we learn that's not what happened.
Quite the opposite in fact Kevin Hart had to fly across an ocean in order to film his scenes for Hobbs & Shaw. According to Johnson...
We shot that scene in London. Kevin was on his tour where every night he was in a different city. Like ‘Kev, I need you, let’s give the fans something just amazing.’ He gets on a plane from Houston after a show, he flies all the way to London. He lands, immediately came to set and jumped in the scenes, and he crushes it.
Flying from Houston to London overnight is a pretty serious commitment to appear in Hobbs & Shaw. It's what you would expect to see from one of the stars, but the fact that Hart was willing to do this for a couple of scenes shows how much he was dedicated to make the cameo happen, or at least how committed he was to helping out his buddy.
Kevin Hart show up in two scenes in Hobbs & Shaw. In the first he engages with the two title characters because he correctly deduces they are some sort of law enforcement or secret agents. Hart's character is an air marshal who offers himself up for recruitment, though Hobbs and Shaw aren't interested. Later, however, they ask for his help to charter a plane, leading to a phone conversation that brings Hart back into the movie briefly.
Kevin Hart is only one of the unexpected actors to show up in Hobbs & Shaw. We also saw a fun performance from Ryan Reynolds. One certainly has to wonder if we might see larger roles from Hart and Reynolds in the future. Hobbs & Shaw certainly set itself up for a sequel, and if there's one way to make the next movie even bigger, it's to make the cast even larger.
Hobbs & Shaw is now available on Digital HD and will hit Blu-ray, 4K, and DVD November 5.
