Excess thought on Torque.
If you haven't seen the ads, Torque is basically a meathead action movie in the vein of the Fast and the Furious, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Biker Boyz, Biker Boyzier, etc. I'm surprised there hasn't been a big NASCAR one yet. I guess maybe that movie Driven. Anyway, I saw it with Rob today, because I lucked into the fact that Rob was actually willing to see it; I didn't know anyone else who was, so The Butterfly Effect becomes next week's $5pass/alone feature of choice. I liked this motorcycle movie pretty well-- I wasn't nuts for it or anything, the way I was nuts for Starship Troopers even before I fully realized that more of the humor is on purpose than not, but I liked it better than 2 Fast 2 Furious (which I hated) and its predecessor (which I kinda liked, but don't remember at all).
It's positioned as a ripoff of those movies (and there's one direct good-stupid homage), but Torque seems more inspired by the action sequences in the Charlie's Angels movies. That is to say, it's brightly colored and kinetic, and defies physics but not in a Crouching Tiger or even Matrix way, just in a cause-with-CGI-you-can way. And I'd kinda think I'd be over that style of action (or action movies in general), even though I liked *both* Charlie's Angels movies fine. But it's fun here-- the ridiculousness of the spectacle *is* the spectacle, so even something kinda cheap-looking and smash-edited, like a climactic chase that looks like a hyperactive Playstation cut scene, is kind of kicky. This is a movie that knows a good way to keep an audience's eyes open is to have a motorcycle chase take place on top and inside of a passenger train. This sequence was in no way better-directed, better-edited or better-choreographed than several parts in, say, Terminator 3, but it was kind of more fun, because I wasn't ever thinking about how much more I enjoyed Torque 2: Judgement Day.
So Torque is a good chunk of fun and it only dragged a bit at the "beginning" (truthfully, we missed the first ten minutes, but having seen the other 70, I have no idea what we could've missed. Well, actually, I have very specific ideas: It was some combination of an opening action sequence and boring exposition. So basically, whatever it was would keep the movie in balance, since I'd estimate this movie's weight at somewhat less than twenty-one grams). I'd like to think that much of the ample humor in the movie was intentional. Some of it definitely was, and that's good enough for me. It never lept into that Starship Troopers stratosphere of pure genius, but what does?
I mean, if you think "it was a motorcycle movie sorta like Charlie's Angels, except not as good" is damning with faint praise, fair enough. But remember the moviegoing climate we're in right now. I'm way caught up with the end of the year stuff, and Kill Bill Vol. 2 just got pushed back to April. January is not traditionally a happy time for brand-new movies. I mean, think about it: If either Charlie's Angels movie had come out in January, it would've seemed like the best goddamned movie ever. So Torque might be a **1/2 timekiller/drive-in fodder in the summer or fall, but on January 24th, it's a *** action extravaganza. With a dude in a "carpe diem" motorcycle jacket.
One thing that occurred to me while watching it, though, was how lucky the Charlie's Angels movies are to have such good actors in them. And I hesitated a little there about writing "good", but, no, really: Cameron Diaz, Bill Murray, Sam Rockwell, Crispin Glover, Bernie Mac (okay, maybe not a good actor, but he's funny). And Drew Barrymore might be the most likable middling actress in Hollywood. She has a totally limited range, but she's in way more good movies than Meryl Streep, and I'll take her over Demi Moore any day. McG, the Angels director, is by all accounts a gigantic toolshed who, as director of that series, has found the one job he can do that doesn't make me want to call the cops on him. But a big chunk of the reason those movies are so much fun is almost pointlessly good casting.
Torque was definitely lacking in the good-actors-cheerfully-slumming department, though the mostly C-list-or-lower cast probably helped add to the enjoyable tossed-off feeling. Still, Martin Henderson (I guess he was the dude in the Ring?) isn't exactly engaging in the lead role. Some of the supporting actors seem to have fun, though.
Especially Ice Cube. And, finally, I swear this isn't just flattery, the physical resemblances between Cube and one Jason S. Forman are at a peak in this movie.
It's positioned as a ripoff of those movies (and there's one direct good-stupid homage), but Torque seems more inspired by the action sequences in the Charlie's Angels movies. That is to say, it's brightly colored and kinetic, and defies physics but not in a Crouching Tiger or even Matrix way, just in a cause-with-CGI-you-can way. And I'd kinda think I'd be over that style of action (or action movies in general), even though I liked *both* Charlie's Angels movies fine. But it's fun here-- the ridiculousness of the spectacle *is* the spectacle, so even something kinda cheap-looking and smash-edited, like a climactic chase that looks like a hyperactive Playstation cut scene, is kind of kicky. This is a movie that knows a good way to keep an audience's eyes open is to have a motorcycle chase take place on top and inside of a passenger train. This sequence was in no way better-directed, better-edited or better-choreographed than several parts in, say, Terminator 3, but it was kind of more fun, because I wasn't ever thinking about how much more I enjoyed Torque 2: Judgement Day.
So Torque is a good chunk of fun and it only dragged a bit at the "beginning" (truthfully, we missed the first ten minutes, but having seen the other 70, I have no idea what we could've missed. Well, actually, I have very specific ideas: It was some combination of an opening action sequence and boring exposition. So basically, whatever it was would keep the movie in balance, since I'd estimate this movie's weight at somewhat less than twenty-one grams). I'd like to think that much of the ample humor in the movie was intentional. Some of it definitely was, and that's good enough for me. It never lept into that Starship Troopers stratosphere of pure genius, but what does?
I mean, if you think "it was a motorcycle movie sorta like Charlie's Angels, except not as good" is damning with faint praise, fair enough. But remember the moviegoing climate we're in right now. I'm way caught up with the end of the year stuff, and Kill Bill Vol. 2 just got pushed back to April. January is not traditionally a happy time for brand-new movies. I mean, think about it: If either Charlie's Angels movie had come out in January, it would've seemed like the best goddamned movie ever. So Torque might be a **1/2 timekiller/drive-in fodder in the summer or fall, but on January 24th, it's a *** action extravaganza. With a dude in a "carpe diem" motorcycle jacket.
One thing that occurred to me while watching it, though, was how lucky the Charlie's Angels movies are to have such good actors in them. And I hesitated a little there about writing "good", but, no, really: Cameron Diaz, Bill Murray, Sam Rockwell, Crispin Glover, Bernie Mac (okay, maybe not a good actor, but he's funny). And Drew Barrymore might be the most likable middling actress in Hollywood. She has a totally limited range, but she's in way more good movies than Meryl Streep, and I'll take her over Demi Moore any day. McG, the Angels director, is by all accounts a gigantic toolshed who, as director of that series, has found the one job he can do that doesn't make me want to call the cops on him. But a big chunk of the reason those movies are so much fun is almost pointlessly good casting.
Torque was definitely lacking in the good-actors-cheerfully-slumming department, though the mostly C-list-or-lower cast probably helped add to the enjoyable tossed-off feeling. Still, Martin Henderson (I guess he was the dude in the Ring?) isn't exactly engaging in the lead role. Some of the supporting actors seem to have fun, though.
Especially Ice Cube. And, finally, I swear this isn't just flattery, the physical resemblances between Cube and one Jason S. Forman are at a peak in this movie.