Premise
A retired master car thief must come back to the industry and steal fifty cars with his crew in one night to save his brother’s life.
Overview
Release – 9 June, 2000
Runtime – 118 minutes
Genre – Action/Heist
Review
NO Spoilers
This was one of the earliest movies that I had watched on TV back in the day. So, re-watching it again after so long brought back the memories, the nostalgia. I still remember the opening credits to this day, and the song accompanying it – Flower by Moby. It’s super catchy and groovy at the same time. And while I was getting hyped up by the song, here’s what followed next –
The movie starts with Kip (Memphis’s younger brother) and his companions stealing a Porsche 996, but they mess up by leading the police to their hideout, which in turn leads to the bust up of all the other cars they had stolen previously as well. While Kip and his gang escape the law for now, the job they had taken is now in complete tatters. The guy who had ordered the same is not happy at all, and he’s not to be messed with. He’s the new guy on the block, Raymond Calitri aka ‘The Carpenter’, and he’s really bad. When Randall “Memphis” Raines (Nicholas Cage; Kip’s older brother) learns that Kip has been kidnapped by Calitri, and that his younger brother’s life in is threat after messing up the big “boost”, he is forced to come back to the life he had once left behind for good, and try to do the impossible… before the clock runs out.
Proper “Grand Theft Auto” style (quite literally!).
Now, Memphis was a notorious, retired car thief… a grand theft auto specialist, the best car “boost” in the world. And as Calitri says when he first meets him –
“Memphis Raines. Your legend precedes you. After you left, auto theft in the South Bay area went down 47%.”
Geez! That’s some numbers! Even for GTA, the game, this sounds quite mad, no?
And now he’s back in action, but the job is not a piece of cake either, even for a man like Memphis. What’s the job you ask? And how hard can it possibly be? Well, it’s to deliver 50 top-end cars (or “ladies” as they are called in the movie) to Calitri for a sum of $200,000… in less than 72 hours. Seems impossible, no? Not for Memphis. But he will need all the help he can get… and help he does get. He assembles his old crew from the golden days, who had all found a new and legal job, along with Kip’s current crewmates. And the race against time commences!
Let the countdown begin in Long Beach, California (as shown at the bottom of the screen during the film, a nice touch!) – 72 hrs… 48… 24… 12… 10… 6… 3… 2… 1 hr… 25 mins… 4 mins…60 seconds…!
But it’s not as easy as it seems. And as if it was not a difficult job already, there are two detectives from the auto theft bureau chasing after Memphis and his crew, waiting for a slip-up. Will Memphis make it in time? Or will he be gone… in 60 seconds? (excuse the bad pun!).
What was good?
- Great opening credits + a great song to go along with it (Flower by Moby) – depicting the brothers’ past life through pictures.
- Very good BGM and soundtrack, including the one for all the ‘Eleanor’ scenes.
- Day, time, and name of the places present at the bottom of the screen, along with the deadline remaining for the delivery. As mentioned above, that was a nice touch.
What was bad?
- Average acting.
- Average action.
- Unfunny humor.
- Car sequences aren’t that adrenaline rushing.
Some quotes/dialogues
“Control. Vision. Determination. These are the three fundamental components of the new-generation race-car driver. Speed is a by-product… But remember – the car is you. You are the car.”
Memphis
“I didn’t do it for the money. I did it for the cars. Gleaming in marina blue… sunflower yellow… marlboro red… Begging to be plucked. And I’d do it.”
Memphis
References present
A little Tom Cruise ref. present at the start, apart from that, there are multiple car related terms and refs. present (I’m not into cars and stuff, so yeah… couldn’t really make out much). If you are into it though, here’s the link to the Wikipedia page showing all the 50 cars that are featured – “The 50 cars, stolen in the film, are listed below. They are listed in the same order as seen in the film; by year and model, along with their respective codenames.”
Fun facts!
- All the cars in the film are referred to as “ladies”. Here’s Memphis giving an explanation as to why – “Its code. You say Jane, you say Shirley, Lucy, Edna, and nobody listening on the waves is the wiser.”
- Memphis’s “unicorn”, the car which was impossible to catch/boost to him personally due to his past history with the same, is shown to be the ‘1967 Shelby GT500’, a gray Ford Mustang, code-named ‘Eleanor’, is also part of the 50-car delivery. [I personally have a small toy model of the car, bought from ‘Pound Land’ when I had visited England a couple years ago. That’s how much nostalgia is attached to it!].
- Actor Michael Pena also makes a little cameo appearance towards the end of the film.
Final thoughts
Overall, what seems like a great concept for a movie, ultimately fails to deliver that adrenaline rush we crave for, ultimately leading to a big disappointment. With a pretty good cast, the likes of Nicolas Cage, Angelina Jolie, etc. the acting fails to deliver miserably to say the least. The action/chase sequences could’ve been executed better too.
Rating: – 6/10 (OK)
