Gone in Sixty Seconds

November 11, 2004 B. John 204 Views

Gone in Sixty Seconds (2000)

A retired master car thief must come back to the industry and steal 50 cars with his crew in one night to save his brother’s life.

Directed by
Dominic Sena

Genres
Action, Crime, Thriller

Cast
Nicolas Cage, Giovanni Ribisi, Angelina Jolie, T.J. Cross, William Lee Scott, Scott Caan, James Duval, Will Patton, Delroy Lindo, Timothy Olyphant, Chi McBride, Robert Duvall, Christopher Eccleston, Vinnie Jones, Grace Zabriskie

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer took a little known B movie from the 70’s and remade it into a big budget action flick. Unfortunately, the updated screenplay is no better than the original, which was a meager excuse for one big car chase.

The story revolves around Memphis Raines (Nicholas Cage), a renowned but retired car thief pressed into service to save his brother’s life. He must steal 50 cars in a few days or his brother will be killed. This is not a very complex or intriguing plot, but it gives Bruckheimer an opportunity to spend $90 million wrecking expensive cars. The dialogue is vapid, something to fill the time between action sequences, which were quite spectacular.

Director Dominic Sena, (Kalifornia) got an opportunity to direct his first megabuck film and did a fine job on the stunts. This film didn’t offer much opportunity for nuance; so he did well with the project he was given. The car chase scenes were spectacular especially the car jump on the bridge.

Nicholas Cage and Giovanni Ribisi are wasted in a film with few good lines. Cage did a lot of his own stunt driving, which was impressive, but he didn’t have a lot with which to work with such a shallow character. Angelina Jolie is just a throw-in to up the testosterone factor. The best acting performance is probably that of Delroy Lindo as the frustrated detective.

This unabashed guy flick is nothing more than a dressed up B movie for action junkies. I rated it a 6/10 on the strength of the car scenes. It delivers plenty of heart pounding action, but if you like a movie with a plot, it falls disappointingly short.

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B. John

Records and Content Management consultant who enjoys good stories and good discussion. I have a great deal of interest in politics, religion, technology, gadgets, food and movies, but I enjoy most any topic. I grew up in Kings Mountain, a small N.C. town, graduated from Appalachian State University and have lived in Atlanta, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Dayton and Tampa since then.