Thursday, October 14, 2004

Torque It Up a Notch

I'm going to make a concerted effort to catch up on my un-watched movie pool. (I now have 45 more to go after this afternoon.) So expect some movie reviews as I catch up on my DVD-watching.

Torque stars Martin Henderson, Ice Cube, Monet Mazur, Matt Schulze, Max Beesley, Jay Hernandez, Will Yun Lee, Jamie Pressley, and Adam Scott. I know, a lot of names listed, but next to the first 4 names, everyone else is supporting.

A modified version of IMDB's summary:
Biker Cary Ford is framed by an old rival and biker gang leader for the murder of another gang member who happens to be the brother of Trey (Ice Cube), leader of the most feared biker gang in the country. Ford is now on the run trying to clear his name from the murder with Trey and his gang looking for his blood. In addition, Ford has to clear the air from his previous run-in with Henry James (Matt Schulze) when he took two of James' bikes. The FBI became involved and raided Ford's girlfriend's, Shane's (Monet Mazur), shop, necessitating his flight and eventual return.
A mouthful but the IMDB version left out the other element pulling on the main character, meaning I had to add it above.

The movie itself is pretty much what I expected. Lots of motorcycle driving over a thinly-veiled plot. There are no big holes in the story but it does feel.. incomplete. Sure, there are plenty of action sequences involving bikes, cars, chases, bike battles, non-bike battles, etc. Plenty of action. But action alone does not a good movie make. It kind of felt like we were being brought into the story in the middle as it were. Granted plenty happens in the movie but a large portion of it is based on past problems and events. Not usually a big deal but big enough when those count as the major motivations behind the main characters.

My one BIG gripe would be the final bike-fight sequence. Beyond even the mere absurdity of its choreography, the fact that it was done entirely by computers, and obviously so at that, really pissed me off. I was yelling at my TV when it started because it just looked patently fake. I hate it when a decent build up is ruined by a poorly executed "final" scene. It makes the entire previous portion of the movie almost worthless.

If you think you might enjoy a relatively light plot with lots of bikes, bike chases and such, then I'd say give this one a shot. It's worth a few dollars but not much more.

ALAN'S MOVIE RATING: Rental or Cable-worthy if you want. Otherwise, skip it. You won't be missing much.