Grand Theft Auto (Gone in Sixty Seconds (DVD))

Member Name: The Duke

Product:	Gone in Sixty Seconds (DVD)
Date:	08/03/02 (160 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fun, No-brain plot

Disadvantages: Nothing new, No-brain plot, imbalance of action

I've been aware of the film "Gone in 60 Seconds" (GISS from now on) for years now. An old friend of mine used to rave about it when we were younger (much younger) despite the fact he could only remember one bit, and that involved one of those signs
that scrolls across and gives out messages which was about 15 seconds worth of the entire movie. He could remember nothing of the plot in general except "it's about nicking cars".

So, when I heard that a remake was in the pipeline, I had a chance to see what my friend was raving about without having to watch some crap mid-1970's low budget movie. Before I go any further, it has to be said that the original bears little resemblance to the updated version apart from the title and basic overall plot device of stealing cars - characters, settings etc. are for the most part, different. I managed to sit with my friend and watch the first 45 minutes of the original version a few weeks ago when it was on Sky Movies, but we gave up because it was so bad. My friend has been gutted ever since.

So, onto this new version then... Nicolas Cage (Con Air, Face/Off) stars as Randall "Memphis" Raines, and ex-car thief who is forced out of retirement to fulfil an obligation that his brother Kip (Giovanni Ribisi - Saving Private Ryan) made to a
notorious gangster Raymond Vincent 'The Carpenter' Calitri (Christopher Ecclestone - eXistenZ) to steal and supply 50 expensive and rare motor cars by a tight deadline.

Having gained permission from his mother to re-enter his old life of crime for noble purposes, he sets about trying to recruit his old team from their now normal, and legal, lives which is not easy as they are now older, wiser and in no danger from the law. However, things are not particularly straight forward because Detective Roland Castlebeck (Delroy Lindo - Get Shorty) and his partner Drycoff (Timothy Olyphant) are keeping a close eye on Memphis
due to his sudden reappearance in town and his history with auto theft.

Of course, the thing is, can Memphis get his team together and steal 50 top class cars in 72 hours? Will Memphis' unicorn (a previously unstealable car) get the better of him? Will Vinnie Jones ever get offered romantic comedies instead of hard man
roles? Well, hardly the most difficult of questions it has to be said, although the Vinnie Jones one isn't necessarily the easiest one to answer!

Well, given that GISS comes from a team that includes Jerry Bruckheimer, producer of such movies as Black Hawk Down, Bad Boys, Pearl Harbor and Top Gun with Dominic Sena, director of Swordfish and Kalifornia, you know it's not going to be a work of cinematic genius.

Well, it's not. The plot isn't too deep, you could safely watch this with your girlfriend (or boyfriend) and not have to worry about them asking dumb questions all the way through it ("Who's he?" "Why's he doing that?" "Is that big red guy with the horns and pointy tail the bad guy?"). The story is quite straightforward with no real plot twists to confuse you (if they do confuse you) and there was only one real dumb bit that I did wonder about (but I'll not give that away). The actors involved have probably done better things in their time, but as a piece of throwaway Friday or Saturday night entertainment, it rates highly.

The acting is sufficient - neither outstanding, nor diabolical and even Vinnie Jones makes a decent stab at it, although he doesn't have any lines to speak of and just strolls around looking menacing and beating people up (did anyone say
"typecast"?). There are a fair amount of famous faces in the movie, not including the main star - Angelina Jolie, Robert Duval, Delroy Lindo plus what seems to be a fair smattering of up and coming talent in Giovani Ribisi (remember him as Phoebe's brother in "Frie
nds"?) with Scott Caan (whom I believe is James Caan's son) and others. I think this was what surprised me most - that an ensemble cast such as the quality of this one could end up making a movie that was fun to watch, but there was a slight niggle at the end that it could have been more.

However, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Life would be dull if you insisted on sitting through glorious epics every time you wanted to watch a film, and for something entertaining to watch for a few hours you couldn't go wrong with this. Grab your popcorn, switch off your brain and enjoy.

If I had one complaint about the movie it would be that all the action is stacked towards the finale. It would have been nice to throw in one or two car chases towards the start to whet the appetite rather than build the story towards one large sequence. The large sequence in question is well worked though, and while not being up to the class of "Bullitt", or even the Blue Brothers, it is enjoyable, fast and frenetic.

Not a classic by any means, but a decent enough movie for a popcorn and beer night in. I'd say this was a "4 star" movie. "4 Star" - geddit? Geddit? Ah, suit yourselves.


Directed by: Dominic Sena
Running Time: 117 minutes

Nicolas Cage .... Randall 'Memphis' Rains
Giovanni Ribisi .... Kip Raines
Angelina Jolie .... Sway
T.J. Cross .... Mirror Man
William Lee Scott .... Toby
Scott Caan .... Tumbler
James Duval .... Freb
Will Patton .... Atley Jackson
Delroy Lindo .... Detective Castlebeck
Timothy Olyphant .... Detective Drycoff
Robert Duvall .... Otto Halliwell
Christopher Ecclestone .... Raymond Calitri
Vinnie Jones .... Sphinx

Summary: