Gone in 60 Seconds (2005, DVD)

Gone in 60 Seconds: Jerry Bruckheimer Films/ Touchstone Pictures
Rating: USA: PG-13

As more than a few of my writer friends are fond of saying, clich s are clich for a reason because they re often the best, or most accurate way to portray something so that everyone can understand it. I guess there s a certain universal understanding to saying something s as quiet as a mouse that just doesn t come through the same way as saying something s as quiet as a ninja , or even as snow falling on grass . And while we d all like to think that we re blazingly original, most of us resort to using clich on a fairly regular basis sure, we could come up with something more original if we really tried but frankly, why bother? Afterall, the clich s work. All of this brings us to Hollywood, and specifically the new Jerry Bruckheimer-produced testosterone-fest, Gone in 60 Seconds.

The film, which is sort of an updating of a 1974 movie with the same name (hey, why bother exerting the energy to come up with a new title? Few people have heard of the 1974 film, and the title works) utilized nearly every cliche in the book to tell the story of Randall Memphis Raines (Nicholas Cage: Face/Off, Con Air). Memphis used to be a car thief in fact, he was the best in the business (could he have been any other kind in a Hollywood production?) However, he gave it all up and decided to go straight, and now he wiles away his days running a miniature go-cart racetrack. But, this is Hollywood, and frankly, no one goes to a Jerry Bruckheimer film to see a touching story about a reformed criminal who likes children. So, in order to complicate Memphis life, we learn that his kid brother Kip (Giovanni Ribisi: Boiler Room, The Virgin Suicides) has taken up boosting cars too only he s not as talented as Memphis. After Kip botches a job, the evil bad guy, Raymond Calitri (played by Christopher Eccleston) informs Memphis that he must steal 50 exotic vehicles for him in the next three days or Kip buys the farm.

Well, as you can imagine, this puts old Memphis in a real predicament and after pondering his options for all of ten seconds, he does what he has to do agrees to do the job to save his kid brother s life. From there, he returns to his old chop shop buddy/surrogate father figure Otto (Robert Duvall: The Apostle, Falling Down) who s gone straight and now runs a legitimate restoration shop and who, after roughly ten seconds of contemplation, decides to help Memphis in his quest. Now all we need is a rag-tag assortment of car thieves from Memphis past including ex-girlfriend Sway (Angelina Jolie: Girl Interrupted, The Bone Collector) which they round up in no time (despite the fact that they all seem to be ex -car thieves with real, normal jobs a life they all eschew after roughly ten seconds of contemplation except for Sway, who takes about thirty seconds). Also along for the ride is Kip s crew, who while not strictly professionals, are also pretty decent car thieves in their own right. If you have any problem figuring out exactly what this motley crew of car thieves is like, just think back to the fun, yet quirky assortment of characters populating films like Armageddon.

So, we ve got a list of fifty exotic cars, three days to find and steal them, and a crew of professionals to get the job done piece of cake, right? Wrong. Making the job even more complicated than it has to be are two auto cops Castlebeck and Drycoff (the brilliant Delroy Lindo and Scream 2 s Timothy Olyphant, respectively). Castlebeck s got it in for Memphis from way back in the day, and will stop at nothing in order to catch the master car thief. Okay, now that we ve got all of that set-up out of the way, we can get down to business stealing fifty cars in one night and that s where the real fun begins.

It would be really easy to sit here and pick apart a movie like Gone in 60 Seconds, or take potshots at it (which it probably seems like I m doing), but despite all the clich in the plot, the shallow, almost non-existent characterization, and the paint by the numbers direction this is actually a fun movie. I mean, c mon Jerry Bruckheimer produced it and Dominic Sena (Kalifornia and more than a few music videos) directed we re not talking Fellini here. It s a summer movie, which means it s basically designed to be mindless fluff and that it is. If you go in looking for more, you re sort of missing the point.

Nicholas Cage is clearly coasting here relying on his trademark odd mannerisms, and his hangdog, world-weary appearance to define his character, yet it works. This isn t going to win Cage another Oscar, but he s likable as Memphis despite the fact that he s a car thief. You could say much of the same thing about the rest of the cast as well. These aren t characters they re archetypes. And to be honest, they re not even different archetypes, but rather variations on the same theme the criminal with a heart of gold. Nevermind that these guys are car thieves they re fun and likable, and they re stealing for a good cause, which makes them ok. If you want a film with well-developed characters, go to the video store because you re not going to find them here.

The script is complete Hollywood formula (you can almost time the plot points right down to the second), but we re all so familiar with it, almost comfortable with it, that it doesn t matter. How many times have we seen the repentant criminal character forced back into a life of crime? Probably thousands of times but will that keep us away from seeing this movie? Not likely, because even though we ve seen it, we still seem to like it. You could, honestly, walk into this film, read a brief synopsis, and probably tell someone everything that will happen from the love story subplot to the second act complications to how the final scene will play out but the movie s fun anyway mostly because it has no pretensions it only wants to be a two hour diversion. And as that, it works quite well.

I could regale you with the plot holes, or the lapses of logic, or the improbable situations, or the things that are never resolved but why? Is there anyone out there who is going to go into the theater expecting to see a serious, believable, realistic film? Truthfully, most of the faults in this kind of film almost become virtues.

If I did have one serious complaint about the film, it s Dominic Sena s direction. Sena is like the anti-stylist or something. Sure, the film looks slick and cool (with all the exotic cars filling the frame, it should look cool) but other than that, most of the film looks like a music video from the golden sepia-toned SoCal locations right on through to the quick, MTV style edits. This is a film for people with ADD, because no one image stays on the screen for more than a few seconds especially in the action sequences. Personally, I think the film looks like just about every other big budget Hollywood film which is basically to be expected. Still, it would be nice to see something original every once in awhile.

Of course, you can apply that last sentence to the rest of this film as well. While Gone in 60 Seconds is a fairly entertaining, if more than a bit clich d, summer action film it would be nice to see someone occasionally try and break the mold and try something new. However, I don t expect originality from Jerry Bruckheimer no, what I expect from Bruckheimer is dependability knowing that I can walk into any of his films and see a protagonist who might not wear a white hat, but has a definite sense of honor and nobility anyway who surrounds himself with an odd, yet fun, group of friends, does some outrageous stunts, blows up/shoots a lot of stuff, and gets the girl at the end. If you re a fan of this kind formulaic filmmaking, then check your brain at the door and see Gone in 60 Seconds you won t be disappointed.