Drive Hard

the_syco

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2968804/



Saw this the other day, and I found it good. Now, it's not great, but it's an entertaining movie and the twists weren't too predictable. Also loved the cars driven Stars John Cusack whom I forget what I know him from, but he put on a good show, albeit it felt a bit too forced at times.

Have had this sitting unwatched for a week or two and after Snowpiercer decided to throw it on to kill 80 or so minutes. Really wish that I hadn't bothered as Drive Hard is one of the least entertaining films I've seen in quite some time.

The trailer for the film hinted at an awkward mix of humour and action and were it not for the presence of Cuscak and Jane I doubt anyone would have bothered giving this anything akin to a home release.

It's been a long time since Brian Trenchard-Smith gave us anything half way decent, in recent years he's been responsible for some mind-numbingly awful SyFy channel productions aswell as some of the most forgettable action films starring former Oscar winner Cuba Gooding Jr. For those who aren't aware, once upon a time the words "a Brian Trenchard-Smith film" didn't always feel like a punishment. There was a time when he was behind some of the more enjoyable Ozploitation out there with the rather damn fun The Man From Hong Kong, Turkey Shoot and a half dozen other B movie classics.

On the surface Drive Hard looked like a return to the basics upon which he made his name. A film which promised fast cars, exciting stunt work and gratuitous shoot outs, sadly the times are a changing and where once a stunt man would have risked life, we now have some of the worst green screen this side of an early episode of Stargate SG1. The car chases here are amongst the least thrilling ever put on screen and can only be described as deathly dull. Our antiheroes or rather their stunt doubles spent most of the film driving rather slowly down abandoned stretches of roads or sitting at the side of the road exchanging dialogue so dumb that you have to assume that it was penned by a semi-literate child. The exposition heavy dialogue tries it's hardest to be light and funny but bar one or two moments it just falls flat. For a comedic action film, Drive Hard is incredibly lacing in both departments.

Jane and Cusack are here solely for a pay check and it shows. Jane at least attempts to act, granted he has little to work with but he's fun to watch and shows once again that he's a rather underrated actor. Cusack on the other hand doesn't so much phone it in as have his assistant do it for him. It's been a few years since he turned in a performance that wasn't half assed or for that matter starred in a good film. Wearing pretty much the same get up as he has in trash like the Factory and the Numbers Station he has the air of someone not really bothered to even attempt to earn his pay check. It's rather telling that throughout the film he never takes off his sunglasses and as a result the set lights is reflected in them in almost every scene. It has the makings of a great drinking game, every time Cusack looks bored of we see the lighting of crew reflected in his glasses take a shot. Pretty sure you'd be comatose by the half way point.

Drive Hard is one of those odd films that really shouldn't exist. It's a mid 90s made for TV mid week movie where nobody was there for the art. Make no mistake of it, this is pretty much a Z rate rip off of Collateral with absolutely no effort put into any aspect of the production. There's no style or flair on display here and you can't help but hope that all involved just give up the day job. That someone could take two talents like Cusack and Jane and manage to turn out such a turgid and boring film is an art in itself.