Man with the plan. Memphis and his team prepare for the big night (l to r: Caan, Jones, McBride, Cage, Duvall).
Memphis Raines (Cage) is a legendary car thief who has been straight for six years when his little brother Kip (Ribisi) gets in trouble with a vicious British crime boss (Eccleston). To save Kip, Memphis must steal 50 cars in two days, so he calls in his old buddies (Duvall, Jolie, Jones, et al) and gets to work, all the while dogged by his old nemesis, Detective Castlebeck (Lindo).
While it's humming along, this is a cracking bit of entertainment, full of Rosenberg's witty humour (see Con Air) and very impressive visually, with Paul Cameron's lush cinematography set off by Sena's gimmicky directoral flourishes and the cast's stylish performances. Mind you, there's absolutely nothing to the film--it's just a series of car heists with an underlying cat and mouse theme. Then producer Jerry Bruckheimer makes his presence felt; suddenly things are bursting into flames for no reason, there's one outlandish stunt too many and the screenplay goes all sweet and syruppy on us. I might mention the fact that, unlike in 1974, the title's 60 seconds is a very long time to steal a car! Eccleston has the film's most thankless role--a trite villain who's seems to be a low-rent escapee from all those London crime movies. As the wordless Sphinx, Jones (an actual escapee from a London crime movie) gets the best line, which is a pretty cheap joke. And I'm sorry to say that Jolie is quickly becoming one of cinema's most overrated actresses, however watchable she may be. Ah well, there are worse ways to spend two hours.
[15--themes, language, violence] 14.Jun.00
US release 9.Jun.00; UK release 4.Aug.00
"Cage plays Memphis Raines, a 'retired' car thief currently living in Arizona, coaching kids driving derby races. His little brother (Ribisi) has become a car thief and is in trouble - he took a contract he was unable to fill - so a friend finds big brother, and the fun begins. In order to get his little brother out of a jam, Memphis must go back into the 'business' and steal a list of 50 hot cars by 8am Friday, or little brother is in trouble. There is an interesting reunion with a detective (Lindo) who always regretted not arresting him six years before, and is determined to get him this time around. This was a fun movie - and there is a car chase that brought back memories of Steve McQueen's Bullitt. The audience was laughing and literally guffawing loudly through many close calls, and you end up cheering on the car thieves. Cage is more himself, just the guy who wants no more trouble but loves cars, and loves his little brother enough to risk it all to save him. Jolie plays his ex-girlfriend who stayed behind because she was not ready to quit. I enjoyed this movie a lot." --Laurie T, Minneapolis.
"As long as you don't expect meaty dialogue and believable plot, this film was fairly watchable. As the car heist is getting underway, the tension builds nicely - it's impressive to see those cars whizzing off to the container ship. There's also some moments of humour, especially from Kip (Ribisi - though I found it difficult to see him as anyone else than Frank Jr from Friends). But the ending - well, that was really lame. Too lame - it spoilt the film for me. And despite some good attempts at characterisation, no-one had a strong enough character in the first place to allow the film to hang together in any interesting way. It seemed like all these odd characters were popping up from nowhere - especially carpenter-cum-psychopath Christopher Eccleston. Not a bad way to spend an evening - especially as I didn't have to pay to see it - but if I had handed over good money, I think I would have been a tad disappointed." --Jo C, West Sussex.
