200 MPH
The Asylum finally knocks one out of the park with200 MPH ! That is, until the first 15 minutes are through, then they kill off their best actor in a blaze of a cheap digital flipping car wreck. Someone should have told them if you’re going to steal from The Fast and the Furious franchise, the last thing to take is the CGI cars from number two.
That aside this is really a bottom of the barrel tribute with mock dolly/jib camera motion and quick cuts of feet on pedals and hands on gears. The only step backwards is the unnecessary usage of curse words and nudity. Not to mention the computer generated images, sadly, you will not be able to avoid that as you would avoid the nudity.
Directed by Cole S. McKay, the film is assuredly anchored by solid performances from its cast and, believe it or not, properly composed shots that would make one assume the director is working off a storyboard inside their head, and not a stolen one from Justin Lin. This is the second writer’s Thunder Levin script, here’s hoping The Asylum employs him again. I did not wince at any of the entertainment’s dialogue and almost no slow pace throughout the movie, which is surprising for this company.
The performing is quite commendable. Jaz Martin is good enough for the role of the young brother heading to collage who needs to race to settle scores over the death of his elder brother. He looks just like Megan Fox’s character (She even looks like Megan in a few motorcycle scenes. It’s hard not to have Transformers flashbacks).
Of course she out acts Fox easily, especially in the scene when she dances for the villain. The character of Hennely Jimenez is the female mechanic with the ability to keep any agitated hood contained (yes, she’s just that good, watch for the scene in which she explains how ‘these will keep it from flying up’). Hennely’s demeanor resembles that of Michelle Rodriguez; she is a girl who appeals to men for her strength and toughness. Darren Thomas features prominently and occasionally, effectively plays the role of the villain. It is surprising that they did not take the character in a totally evil direction when the death of the brother is more of an accident involving him than a murder committed by him.
Zedrick Restauro and Jared Kahn fit in the best as the leader’s companions and they bring a refreshing element to the group especially in the part where they get in to an impound lot and make off with the vehicle. But it’s the elder brother, Tommy Nash, who appears to be the one who needs to work more on his character!
Most of the racing shots are real cars and most of the times, I guess due to budgetary reasons, some CGI is applied and those are mostly horrible looking. One of the funniest moments comes in one of the clips when our hero is racing, this cop, who is also the only cop in town and played by the menacing Paul Logan, decides to chase him and they cut to a chopper showing under it forty feet off the ground for the last two seconds of this four second scene.
This game looks like it’s from a PlayStation console. They should have used the real stunt drivers, which are not that bad, but just used in cutting to off camera collisions. This wouldn’t have redeemed the movie, but at least it would draw less attention to the wound.
On the whole, not a bad flick the best I’ve seen from the Asylum thus far outside of the comedy genre. If you fancy car movies, go for it this is about on par with Redline.
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