Let's
not beat around the bush. Gone in 60 Seconds is loud, stupid, full of stock characters,
lacking in substance, and full of routine action. Strangely enough, however, I
kind of liked it.
Produced
by action extraodinaire Jerry Bruckheimer and starring Nicolas Cage, Gone in 60
Seconds, like many Bruckheimer productions, never takes itself seriously. In this
actioneer, Cage plays a retired car thief who is lured back into the game. He
must steal fifty cars in two days in order to save his brother (played by The
Boiler Room's Giovani Ribisi) from a group of all-too-familiar bad guys.
We've
seen this story a thousand times and director Dominic Sena doesn't exactly excel
with character development. He does however provide plenty of solid low-brow entertainment.
Much of the film reminded me of John Landis' The Blues Brothers. You've got your
excessive car chases and crashes, along with a host of "retired" pros
out for one last ride. What's most disappointing about Gone in 60 Seconds, is
its blatant waste of talent. Most notably, the stunning Angelina Jolie, and the
veteran Robert Duvall. They get about as much screen time here as Anthony Hopkins
in Mission: Impossible 2. Considering that the trailer we've been seeing for more
than six months seemed to promise plenty of Duvall and Jolie, I'd say this is
a pretty shameless case of false advertising. Perhaps we were supposed to assume
it would be the two Oscar winners that would be gone in 60 seconds.
Thankfully,
Cage and Delroy Lindo (Cider House Rules) provide enough star power to compensate.
Though Gone in 60 Seconds is quite forgettable and not the best of summer movies,
I found myself enjoying it more than Mission: Impossible 2. Most likely because
I went in with lesser expectations.
