Torque (2004)

  Plot Summary

Cary Ford (Martin Henderson), a biker wanted by the FBI for drug smuggling, returns from Thailand to clear his name.  Instead of clearing his name, and making-up with his girlfriend (Monet Mazur), Ford finds himself in even more trouble when he is framed for murder.  Now, he not only has the FBI after him but also a couple of motorbike gangs, including the "Reapers" lead by Trey (Ice Cube) the brother of the man he is supposed to have murdered.  While trying to come up with a way to sort out the mess Ford goes on the run again with a couple of friends...

Review

This is music video director Joseph Kahn's first feature film and it sounds and views like a very long music video.  With roaring motorbikes, music thumping, stunts, action set pieces and camera tricks it would make a great 8 minute music video but as a full length feature film it is total nonsense and extremely irritating.  This is The Fast And The Furious on motorbikes, although Torque makes The Fast And The Furious look intelligent.  Something that's hard to do! 

Firstly the story, characters and dialogue are just plain silly.  The story has no intrigue or suspense and no shred of originality.  The characters and dialogue are clichéd and corny.

Movies like this don't have to be clever as they are all about action, stunts and special effects but unfortunately the stunts and action scenes are void of excitement and will just leave you cold.  The action set pieces are so silly that leaving your brain at home just isn't enough!  The scenes depend on camera close ups and tricks that don't project danger or tension.  A good old fashioned chase would have had more excitement than the impossible motorbike acrobatics that go on in this movie!

Riding a powerful bike at speed is one of the most exhilarating things anyone can do but Torque doesn't capture that.  Even bikers can't be happy with this movie.

As far as the acting goes nobody shows enough screen presence to make an impression and with the weak script and story it was going to be hard to grab any attention.

The Bottom Line:  Nothing to see here folks, keep on moving!

Reviewed by Niall Quinn,  Premier Movie Reviews 2004

Genre: Action

Certificate: 15's

Director: Joseph Kahn

~ Main Cast ~

Martin Henderson

Monet Mazur

Ice Cube

Jay Hernandez

Matt Schulze

Will Yun Lee

RATING

NOT WORTH THE TIME