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Laramie Movie Scope:
Gone in 60 Seconds

Bumper cars for grown-ups

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by Robert Roten, Film Critic
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June 10, 2000 -- "Gone in 60 Seconds" is like bumper cars for grownups. Bumper cars is a carnival ride in which you crash your car into cars driven by other vehicles. It brings out the aggression in people.

This testosterone-driven film, based on the 1974 film of the same name, has a simple plot, shallow characters and lots of action, enough to bring out those old bumper car feelings. It doesn't really require a lot of acting talent, but it has plenty, including Oscar-winners Robert Duvall, Angelina Jolie and Nicholas Cage and an extremely capable supporting cast. The actors make the most of their limited opportunities to breathe life into their thin characters.

After looking at the trailer of this movie you can deduce the plot. Master car thief is drawn back into one more car theft spree because he is being blackmailed. That turns out to be the case. Cage plays Randall "Memphis" Raines, a master car thief who comes back to town to get his kid brother, Kip (Giovanni Ribisi of "Boiler Room"), out of a jam. He promised to heist some cars for bad guy Raymond Calitiri (Christopher Eccleston of "Elizabeth"). Calitiri promises to kill Kip if his brother doesn't steal 50 cars for him in three days. He won't take just any cars, either, he has a list of rare and expensive cars, including a 1967 Shelby Mustang GT 500, a car which has been bad luck for Raines. This sounds like a drama, but it is not, neither is it a character-driven story. It is more like a light-hearted comic-action movie with slight dramatic overtones, light summer fare.

Raines recruits a team of his old friends and family to help him in the quest, including Otto Halliwell, (Robert Duvall of "Deep Impact") the wise old guru of the group, Donny Astricky, (Chi McBride of "Mercury Rising"), a driving instructor who is being terrified by the student from Hell when he gets the call for help, old girlfriend Sara "Sway" Wayland (Angelina Jolie of "Girl, Interrupted") and the mysterious Sphinx (Vinnie Jones of "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels"), who would much rather hit you than talk to you. Kip also recruits some of his younger buddies, including an electronics expert, Mirror Man (stand up comic TJ Cross) and Toby a computer hacker (William Lee Scott of "October Sky"), who prove to be valuable in locating cars and disarming modern security systems.

Raines decides to spend the first day or two finding the cars. He plans to steal all 50 in one night. Hoping to foil this plan are a couple of tough detectives, Roland Castlebeck (Delroy Lindo of "The Cider House Rules") and Drycoff (Timothy Olyphant "Go"). Also hoping to foil the plan are some other car thieves who feel Raines is moving in on their territory.

So the scene is set for the big heist on Friday, replete with gunfire and lots of car chases. Can Raines deliver all 50 cars on time? Will the cops catch him or will the other crooks shoot them? Is anybody ever in any real danger in this movie?

This movie is all about the American fascination with the car, the car as an object of sex, power and excitement. Raines explains that stealing cars "was never about the money. It was about the cars." The excitement of driving fast and getting away from the cops. I once read a story about a guy in California who owned a very expensive car. He had every anti-theft device available attached to it. Every once in a while someone would steal it, and then leave it parked a block or two away. Whoever stole it didn't want the car for money, they just enjoyed the challenge and wanted to show they could steal it whenever they wanted to. Kip and his young friends are in it for the money, but Raines was only in it for the cars, the challenge and the excitement.

In a sense, then, the car thieves are not bad guys. The older ones are all out of the business. They've gone straight. They only get back into it for this one gig, to save a life. The cops, usually portrayed as buffoons in this kind of movie are just as sharp as the car thieves. They play a cat and mouse game, always just one small step behind. Atley Jackson, (Will Patton of "Armageddon") an old friend of Raines, who is working for Calitiri is a sort of wild card in the movie. I wasn't quite sure, until near the end of the movie, just whose side he was on.

As you would expect in a film produced by Jerry Bruckheimer ("The Rock," "Crimson Tide" "Con Air," "Armageddon") this is a solid action film with plenty of fist fights, gunshots, car chases and explosions. The direction, by Dominic Sena ("Kalifornia") is solid and so is the cinematography from newbie Paul Cameron, the effects from coordinator Mike Meinardus ("Enemy of the State") and the stunts from coordinator Chuck Picerni, Jr. ("The Hunt for Red October"). There's also some humor thrown in, especially the byplay between the the silent Sphinx and the motor mouth Mirror Man, an odd couple indeed. True, it is a formula summer film, but it is entertaining. It rates a C+.

Click here for links to places to buy this movie in video and/or DVD format, the soundtrack, books, even used videos, games and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

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Copyright © 2000 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.
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Robert Roten can be reached via e-mail at my last name at lariat dot org. [Mailer button: image of letter and envelope]

(If you e-mail me with a question about this or any other movie or review, please mention the name of the movie you are asking the question about, otherwise I may have no way of knowing which film you are referring to)