Written by: Jeremy Rush
Directed by: Jeremy Rush
Starring: Frank Grillo, Garret Dillahunt
Rated: TV-MA
Plot
One phone call upends a getaway driver's (Frank Grillo) night, forcing him to figure out who he's double crossed and who double crossed him.
Verdict
The Wheelman is a lot of fun. It's part Speed (1994) and part Locke (2013) as the camera stays primarily in the car while the driver tries to sort out who double crossed him. It's bombastic action, but I wish it had more love for the cars. We don't get good shots of the cars. This movie easily could have made a black 5-series BMW with a red trunk more iconic, but failed to do so. I love the focus. It's one man on a wild one night journey and Grillo does a great job in this.
Watch it.
Review
I love the opening. From inside the car we see a garage door open and someone drop off the BMW to the wheelman. We can barely hear them, and it creates a quiet and gritty mood. We jump right into the heist. The wheelman is paired with two people he'd rather not be stuck with in a car, but he has a job to do. When he gets a call during the actual heist and is told the other two in the crew will kill him once they leave the bank, he has to make a split second decision.
His next step is to figure out who called him and who got double crossed. Two different men call him claiming the money in the trunk of the car is theirs. The wheelman provided his crew time to drop the money in the trunk, but didn't let them get in the car. The convoluted mystery unravels as the wheelman goes through his contacts looking for answers while fielding various phone calls, mostly of people threatening him. Grillo does a great job carrying this.
This reminds me a lot of the Tom Hardy movie Locke. Check out my quick take. The entire movie takes place with Hardy in the car as three concurrent stories attached to him unfold. It's a nuanced movie, and while The Wheelman isn't nuanced, it makes up for in adrenaline.
I wish this had more love for cars. There isn't a single good show of the 5-series BMW. In movies like this the main character gets the exact car he wants. In this he's upset the car has an obvious identifier. The movie specifically doesn't show this car. The only time I see the red truck is from an in the car vantage point. Maybe it's a budget thing and not spending the money for crane shots, but it's a noticeable omission.
When the wheelman switches to a Porsche 911, we get numerous overhead shots of the windshield and a windshield squirter, but that has to be one of the least interesting shots of a 911.
This had the potential to be a grittier version of BMW's branded series of eight short films "The Hire" with Clive Owen as "the Driver" back in 2001-02. Each episode was directed by a well known director, Guy Ritchie, John Woo, Ang Lee, Alejandro González Iñárritu, etc. Those shorts love the car, of course they do it's a commercial, but that was uncharted ground to make a commercial that wasn't exactly a commercial. It did make you want the cars, and The Wheelman should have more of that feeling. I can't even say if the BMW is a cool car as I never got a good look at it.
Despite that, I'm a fan of this movie. I love cars, the fast paced action, and the focus on just one night.
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