Rent Gone in 60 Seconds on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: H.B. Halicki (1974 motion picture), Scott Rosenberg (screenplay)
Directed by: Dominic Sena
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Angelina Jolie, Giovanni Ribisi, Scott Caan, James Duval, Will Patton, Delory Lindo, Timothy Olyphant, Chi McBride, Robert Duvall, Christopher Eccleston, Vinnie Jones
Rated: PG-13
Watch the trailer
Plot
A retired master car thief must come back to the industry and steal fifty cars with his crew in one night to save his brother's life.
Verdict
I want to like it more than I actually do. It's got a lot of cool cars, a motley crew of car thieves, and a big car chase. The problem is that these aspects are perfunctory. The movie ran down a list of what should be in an action car movie, but didn't integrate it. While the final car chase has explosions and lots of crashes, there aren't any great shots of the car. I like this movie because of the cars, but it doesn't do a great job of showcasing them.
It depends.
Review
It's an ensemble crime caper that doesn't quite flesh out the characters. They have one liners instead of development. It's made simply to entertain. I wish it were better. The biggest disappoint is the final car chase. It lacks any appeal. Despite that the one liners aren't bad and the cast of cars are fun to see. It's a great concept. The original movie is a great idea that fell short due to the small budget. This is certainly a step up.
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| Scott Caan, Vinnie Jones, Chi McBridge, Nicolas Cage, Robert Duvall. |
Kip Raines (Giovanni Ribisi) gets caught boosting a car which is part of a larger job for a quite silly bad guy. The bad guy wants fifty cars or someone's life. Memphis Raines (Nicolas Cage) steps in to steal the cars in exchange for his brother's life. Memphis just so happens to be the greatest car thief ever. He left the life behind, but he's got to jump back in.
Memphis assembles a crew to steal fifty cars in one night. They've got to be delivered by eight in the morning. This countdown serves to keep the tension high while cops are hot on the trail. Delroy Lindo does a great job as the detective on Memphis's trail.
We see a lot of cool cars, but it's just visual. The characters never talk about the cars, and these are people that should be entranced by cars. What little car talk we do get sounds like it was written by someone with little knowledge of cars.
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| 1967 Ford Mustang GT500 |
A lot in this movie is over the top. Memphis tells his mom what he has to do and that conversation is overwrought. There are some silly scenes like Memphis posing as a rich snob that wants a Ferrari. It's got a little bit of that Nic Cage silliness that pervades is recent movies.
Eleanor is a 1967 fastback Ford Mustang GT500 that Memphis saves for last to steal as he's had trouble stealing that kind of car before. While the car chase is the original movie is quite long and a lot of pivot and turn. This chase, despite the budget, is worse. It's easy to tell who is driving the car as all shots of the chase are either really close shots of Memphis or very wide shots of a stunt driver. The sequence inserts explosions to create energy, but the heart of that chase should be the car. I wanted one really good image from that chase, and the above is the best I found.
I like this movie because of the various cars, but I want the feeling that these characters love the cars. The movie comes off as shallow, because it is.
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