Gone in 60 Seconds - Review

There is a fun movie here. As hard as that may seem to believe, but yes, I truly believe that there could have been a movie about Nicholas Cage stealing a boatload of cars in one night and it is wickedly entertaining. Unfortunately, we only get to see glimpses of the fun that could have been and we get one hell of a giant mess instead.

However, before the mess can be truly explained, it seems only fair to start off with the silver linings. First off, you have Nicolas Cage. In a movie with a premise of stealing tons of cars in one night, Nicolas Cage is probably your best bet. Sure, you could have thrown in Kurt Russell or dare I say even someone like Bruce Campbell, but Nicolas Cage fits really well into wild premises like that. The only problem with casting him is that the director can't decide to go with a completely serious Nicolas Cage or the classic over-the-top Nicolas Cage. So you get a little mix of both which in my eyes is a mistake. If you wanted this movie to be an intensely serious action movie, then pick someone like Tom Cruise. But since you decided to go with more of a comedic approach, then we missed out on some more of the classic crazy Nicolas Cage.

Secondly, we have the car chase. Notice how I said only one chase? Well, that's because shockingly, for a movie about stealing cars, there is only one real intense action scene with cars chasing each other through the Los Angeles streets. However, the chase we do get is actually quite awesome. Everything you would want in an action movie like this. Fast cars, intense turns, and close calls and even a huge jump, what more could you ask for in a chase sequence?

Lastly, the premise. Yes, I think this premise could have been pretty fun. An ex-car thief having to come out of retirement to pull off one last major job. Then throw in some badass car chases, some ingenious ways of stealing cars and a great dated soundtrack (this movie actually has a great soundtrack). The only problem is that the premise gets lost in a boring, sloppy story with unlikable characters.

Take Nicolas Cage, for instance, the only reason why I like his character and want to see him succeed is that Memphis Raines is played by Nicolas Cage. The villain played by that British guy who was Doctor Who, why did he need those cars? Because it would make him look bad to foreign buyers? Great motivation guys. So to get Cage to go through with this heist, he threatens his brother played by Giovanni Ribsi because he lost some of his cars and almost got caught by the police.

Here a couple problems. One, I don't know who any of these characters are or what their personalities are. Sure, we see that Giovanni Ribsi and his little gang of car thieves are a bunch of brain-dead idiots and are not very good at stealing cars. Seriously, the only reason why the police are so close behind them when pulling off this major job is that of all the screw ups are done by our main team. I'm sitting there thinking, "Why should I be rooting for these ungrateful idiots?" Then with the backstory of Nicolas Cage and his relationship with his brother and his... ex-girlfriend? played by Angelina Jolie is told to us through expository dialogue. So basically we are told about these characters, what they want and what they need to do and then the rest of the movie tries to juggle all these stories with no emotional attachment to them and adding in a bunch of Michael Bay-esque humor. Seriously, this movie really does feel like a Michael Bay movie. A bad one at that.

This movie could have worked. Now I am not pretending like I am a bonified screenwriter or know how to create a Hollywood-level screenplay for an action movie, but here is my idea for how this movie could have been saved.

So start off with a flashback with text on the screen like "15 years ago." In this flashback, establish Nicolas Cage's character. Who he is, what he wants, his morals, his driving skills, his relationship with his brother, his mentor played by Robert Duvall and his girlfriend. That way, we at least get to see these relationships in their prime as opposed to being told about them. Then they do a job of some sorts which allows us to be introduced to the fun action and get a feel for what kind of movie this is and introduce the villain. Something goes wrong on the job and the villain ends up in jail or gets kidnapped by another gang or anything that allows the villain to come back for revenge. So in the present day, in order to "defeat" the villain, Nicolas Cage and friends have to steal a bunch of cars. Scrap all the idiot characters, scrap the side-plots and scrap the really unnecessary forced drama. Have that scene, in the beginning, setting up everything we need to know about the world, the characters, and the story to come and have fun with it.

If the film went in that direction, it may have been a different story. However, while it had some really entertaining parts here and there, my overall experience with this movie was extremely disappointing. Stick with The Fast and The Furious folks.