Gone in 60 Seconds (2001, VHS)

In the world of remakes, there is no easier way to do it than to take a B-Action movie, throw a lot of money at it, and hope that it makes box office gold. Back in 1974, the original film came out to limited audiences, and it was forced to live in B-Movie lore, remembered mostly for its 40 minute car chase. With the success of films like Speed, where the plot was very simple, and didn't move to far from the central theme, it was soon time for a studio to give Gone In 60 Seconds a try in the new pumped-up action genre. Coupling non-stop action, with a wide cast, and with Jerry Bruckheimer as the Producer, the film was geared to go. Leading the cast is Nicolas Cage in the role of Randall "Memphis" Raines, who has retired from stealing cars in order to lead a straight life. Gone is his motivation to live that fast life, and instead is happy enough to live in retirement.

When Raines brother decides that he wants to get into the life of crime as well, he crosses paths with the wrong man, and ends up in the sightlines of an angry mobster. With his brother's life now at risk, Raines must take on the heist of a lifetime: stealing 50 exotic cars within only 24 hours. It isn't going to be an easy task, so of course he convinces people from his old crew to come on board. This includes a woman he used to date in Angelina Jolie, his old mentor Robert Duvall, and a cast of characters that each has their own personality when it comes to stealing cars. Together they need to steal these 50 cars for the mobster in exchange for Kip Raines. The problem isn't that they need to just steal the cars, but that Detective Roland Castlebeck (played by Delroy Lindo) is hot on their tale right from the start. Smelling that something must be up when Memphis returns to town, he takes it upon himself to bring down the whole crew before they can finish the job.

The action starts coming as the car stealing begins, and we watch as the group puts their plan into action. There are a lot of interesting action sequences, but it really all boils down to the climax where Memphis is found stealing one special car, and leads the police on a chase that lasts more than 30 minutes. Everything else about the film is just build-up to this climactic action sequence, and though there are some small plot-lines developed between some of the supporting characters, everyone went to this movie with the impression that this final sequence of events was not to be missed. In comparison to the original, I think that this chase was better, but it could be simply because they had more money to spend on the special effects, and because I am sure they did some stop-action to make these scenes look even more intense. To that end it was worth seeing Gone In 60 Seconds, and made it worth renting the film in my opinion. But, that is about where my positive recommendations of the movie come to an end.

Gone In 60 Seconds was simply a bloated excuse for an action film, inter-twining many different characters to make the story seem like more than it really was. The whole mob-boss tie in was just too convenient, and everything else about the film seems unimportant as the final car chase gets underway. Sure there is a lot of action, but at the end of the day it really feels very empty, and it doesn't hold up to a second viewing of the film. I felt very disappointed when I first saw the movie, and soon felt that my excitement to see it was only because I had liked the original so much more. To make matters worse, they try to show sparks between Cage and Jolie, but there is no on-screen chemistry between the two in my opinion. Beyond that last chase, the film is very empty, only held together by the flimsiest of plot lines that would never hold up under scrutiny. It is because of that, that I do not recommend the remake of Gone in 60 Seconds, and suggest you look else where for a good action film.