It was with a sense of giddiness that I entered a local
theater to see Eran Creevy’s Collide. I
love it when great actors go slumming and this low-concept chase film has two
of them – Oscar winners Anthony Hopkins and Ben Kingsley. I anticipated a great deal of ham to be
sliced between these two grand actors and I wasn’t disappointed, as they more
than kept up with the various hurtling autos that rent the scenery
throughout.
This sort of movie, which was once made on a show-string
budget and played at the bottom of a double bill at the drive-in, now requires
$30 million to bring to the screen and six different production companies to
share the risk. It should be noted that
for all its shortcomings, there’s no question that every cent of this outlay is
on the screen as the vehicular damage is extensive and frequent.
The plot, such as it is revolves around two American
expatriates, Casey Stein (Nicholas Hoult) and Juliette Marne (Felicity Jones) who
fall in love and then get involved with some very powerful, ruthless drug
dealers. Seems she needs a kidney
transplant, can’t get it in Germany where they live and so he agrees to carry
out a nefarious deed for Turkish pusher Geran (Kingsley). He and his partner (Marwan Kenzari) are to
hijack a truck filled with cocaine belonging to Hagen Kahl (Hopkins), a
respectable business magnate who runs dope on the side. Needless to say, their simple
plan proves to be not so simple, as many bad guys chase the good guys across
Germany and vehicular mayhem ensues.
It seems as though Creevy and fellow screenwriter F. Scott
Frazier set out to make a chase film for all people. At one time or another there are motorcycles,
semi-trucks, a station wagon, a sedan, a SUV and a convertible involved in hot
pursuit which take place in cities, villages, the country, on the highway,
cobblestone streets and finally the Autobahn.
A foot chase is also thrown in for those viewers who like their pursuits
of a more basic variety. (A sequence at
a racetrack had me thinking we’d get some horses involved as well, but alas it
was not to be.) Most all the bases are covered where chases are concerned and
to Creevy’s credit, they’re all done to generate maximum thrills and are put
together so that we can follow the action.
The bottom line is, they really know how to destroy some cars.
As far as the acting is concerned, players in movies such as
this tend to be nothing more than window dressing but the main cast doesn’t
phone it in. Jones is given little to do
but her soulful line readings and deep doe-like eyes make you understand why a
healthy young man would tear up half of Germany in her service. Hoult is quite
good, looking appropriately distressed, hopeful or in pain as the situation
requires.
However, its Kingsley and Hopkins you gravitate to whenever
they appear and for good reason. It’s
obvious these two veterans are having fun, the former bedecked in gold
jumpsuits, garish jewelry and sporting an outrageous accent, while the latter
oozes menace, relishing the many monologues he’s given, unnecessarily
elongating syllables, changing moods on a dime. Kingsley and Hopkins share the
screen twice and while these meetings aren’t on par with the dinner scene between
Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino in Heat, they’ll do as an example of master
actors doing their all to elevate the dreck they’ve been handed.
You really can’t have enough popcorn where a movie like Collide is concerned. It’s an empty
calorie, cinematic confection that, while derivative, is at least well
done. Chalk it up as a guilty pleasure
you’re likely to forget about by the time you reach your car. That being said, I can’t believe I didn’t
mention that there’s a subway car in play too…
This article appears in Feb 23 – Mar 1, 2017.
