Gone in 60 Seconds

         Gone in 60 Seconds, at its most basic level, is a car movie.  At its deepest level, it's a car movie. So that basically means the movie has one level, not a richly textured with layers and layers of things to think about, just fast, cool cars.

          Pretty cars can't drive themselves; that's where the actors come in. Where there are actors, there is mostly likely a story. Gone in 60 Seconds have a very, very simple and easily understandable premise. Memphis (Cage) is the retired car thief who must go back into business, with the help of some old friends, to save his brother (Ribisi)'s hide. They need 50 very specific and of course high-end cars in a few days.

          Memphis is shown at his legal job as a gas station owner who lets kids race go-karts in the back. He's living the straight path tying to provide a good example for his younger brother Kip. Atley Jackson (Will Patton) pays Cage a visit telling him that his bro has screwed up, so big bro must go to fix it up. He calls his boys and in the usually drafting process for a Jerry Bruckheimer produced mega blockbuster film, they are a bunch of rag tag misfits like Sway (Angelina Jolie) and Sphinx (Vinnie Jones).

          Then we meet Memphis' opponents in this plot, two cops played by Delroy Lindo and Timothy Olyphant. Lindo had told Memphis to get out of town or he'd go down on his last visit. Now, he's going to book him if he catches him in the act, no more Mr. nice guy. 

           After all the story stuff gets out of the way, the action begins. A fight scene or two, some car thefts and a few great car chase scenes provide this film its only positives. They are enormous positives and the obvious best part of the film. The chase scenes are intense and intelligent. The cops don’t just follow, they use strategies to try to stop these thieves but of course the thieves are the better drivers. I just have one question, how do you make the thieves the heroes? When someone commits crimes they are criminals, not people to root for. What if they were stealing your car, would you cheer them on. I think not.

          The cars stolen are true pieces of art, such as some classic Jaguars and some new Mercedes. Then there are a few fight scenes/ comical encounters an alternate group of car thieves trying to defend their turf led by Master P. In probably the best non-car chase scene, Vinnie Jones kicks some thug ass along with Cage.
 
        Supporting roles in the film were all too small and Cage's part was too big. Cage is not a great actor and he does not carry this movie. There was an overabundance of good actors in small supporting roles. I wanted more Jolie, more Duvall, more Ribisi, and more Vinnie Jones.  These were interesting characters that were not delved into because of time restraints and the action film theory that only the main character needs to be fully explained and portrayed, you are just to accept the supporting characters as being there with no past. While, I'm on supporting roles I should probably mention the name of the main villain, Raymond Calitri (Christopher Eccleston). He was boring and got on my nerves. He was just another mean son of a bitch, who cared about nothing, cut off your finger if you're bad rapscallion.

      After seeing the trailer, I expected this movie to be one of the best of the summer. It's not; its just average summer fare above that crapfest Armageddon or Wild, Wild West; more in the category of the mediocre summer with films like Men in Black and The Rock. If you like cool cars, one-liners, and some good action but aren't in the mood for a good story, this is the flick for you.

Rating: 1.5 out of 4
Main Stars: Nicholas Cage, Angelina Jolie, Robert Duvall, Giovanni Ribisi, Delroy Lindo
Director: Dominic Sena
Running Time: 117 minutes
Rated PG-13 for violence, sexuality and language.
Reviewed by: Joe Soria


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