Nicolas Cage, Angelina Jolie, Giovanni Ribisi,
Robert Duvall, Delroy Lindo, Will Patton, and Christopher Eccleston
As ephemeral a movie as its title suggests, GONE
IN 60 SECONDS is exactly how long the endorphin thrills of this
car-stealing flick last once outside the theatre. Watching
the film is exciting, heart-pounding fun -- its candy-colored
car chases and white-knuckle drama quickly satisfy the cravings
for a summer action movie. Upon retrospection, however, its in-the-moment
pleasures fade away like yesterday's sunset, revealing the lack
of substance at the film's core.
Of course, substance isn't exactly a priority for producer
Jerry Bruckheimer (CON AIR, THE ROCK, ARMAGEDDON). Stylish action
is more important in his films that serious subjects. Pleasing
the masses, for Bruckheimer, seems to be a simple equation of
big leading actor, rising stars in the supporting cast, trippy
colored lighting, and massive destruction of property.
In GONE IN 60 SECONDS, the big actor is Nicolas
Cage, playing a reformed master auto thief named -- get this --
Memphis Raines. He's come back to a life of crime to save his
brother, Kip (rising star #1, Giovanni Ribisi), from the evil
crime lord Raymond Colitri (rising star #2, Christopher Eccleston).
In order to win his brother's life, Memphis must steal 50 luxury
and antique cars in less than three days. (To prove how great
he is, Memphis waits until the last day to steal them all -- that
way, he figures, the cops won't be able to catch on to him.) Stealing
all of those cars alone would be quite a task, so Memphis brings
back together his merry band of thieves, including Otto (Robert
Duvall - Bob, what are you DOING here?), and former girlfriend
Sway (newly-awarded Oscar winner Angelina Jolie...rising star
#3). On his tail, however, is his former nemesis, Detective Roland
Castlebeck (Delroy Lindo), who never caught Memphis before he
reformed.
That's the setup...nothing left to do now but steal
the cars, which they do for the remaining hour-plus of the movie.
And truthfully, some of the thefts are incredibly exciting action
sequences, including a bridge chase that manages to be truly spectacular.
When the film drifts off into uncharted territory, like the rekindling
of the romance between Sway and Memphis, director Dominic Sena
quickly gets back on track by making something explode.
Sena's contribution to this film is negligible; on
its surface, GONE IN 60 SECONDS looks and feels very much
like every other film Bruckheimer has produced. The screenplay
is often trite and always confusing, but the writers seem to realize
they're not Shakespeare...never let dramatic narrative get in
the way of a good traffic accident. Although the backstory with
Colitri and Kip is hard to follow, the plot isn't what's important
here.
Nicolas Cage, in his third Bruckheimer outing, has
a firm grip on the action hero stereotype he's playing. GONE
IN 60 SECONDS demands that you pull for the criminals to win;
the most effective tool to achieve this is Memphis, a former bad
guy turned really good guy (in his first scene, he's seen playing
with children on a go-cart track), who is only stealing cars to
save his brother's life. Who can't get behind something like that?
(Of course, it could be your car he's stealing, but that's another
issue entirely.)
Ribisi, Jolie, Eccleston, and Duvall are accomplished
performers, and each of them delivers a solid, engaging performance.
It is practically impossible not to adore this ragamuffin band
of thieves -- they are so darned adorable. When Jolie delivers
way-over-the-top lines like, "What do you think is better...having
sex or stealing cars?", audiences will only smile and enjoy.
It's so bad, it's good.
GONE IN 60 SECONDS is what the Summer Movie
Season was made for. You want quality and art, wait until the
fall. You want to have some fun, come along and steal some cars.
