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MOVIE REVIEW: TORQUE

This article is from our archives and has not been updated and integrated with our "new" site yet... Even so, it's still awesome - so keep reading!

Published on Sun, Mar 7, 2004

By: The LACar Editorial Staff

TORQUED By BILL WRIGHT

The dynamic duo from LA Car exit the theater, discussing (arguing) about whether the movie just seen had any value at all. The older of the two (me): "Well, it was mercifully short (81 minutes), the bikes are hot, the women are attractive, and there certainly is, uh, action. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be a script. I understand now about that, I read somewhere that Joseph Kahn, the director, came straight from music videos and commercials geared to the 15-25 set. That little bit of information goes a long way toward explaining why the film felt like a very violent Mountain Dew commercial.

The younger of the LA Car duo (paraphrasing Rene Zellweger in Jerry Maguire): "Man, they had me at the opening scene. What a bike sequence! What did you think that we were going to be seeing, Room with a View? Don't try to read so much into this, it's a movie about motorcycle gangs, and it has all the requisite parts, bikes, babes, action, effects...I loved it."

If you are looking for action, and you love motorcycles, this film might be for you, if you don't mind uncoupling your mind from the rest of the train. It's also important that you don't care whether what's happening on the screen makes any sense, follows the laws of physics (in any fashion), or is in any way plausible.

Having said all that, I have to admit that Torque has its moments. It is entertaining on certain levels (most of them rather visceral). It became a game of sorts to see if Ice Cube would change his facial expression to anything other than his pasted-on scowl. And the climactic bad biker chick vs. good biker chick joust (on motorcycles, of course) was a hoot.

And although I initially questioned whether one existed, there must have been some sort of script. After all, there was one, really great cheesy bit of dialogue when hero Cary (played by Martin Henderson) returns from Thailand in hiding. He tries to rekindle the flame with girlfriend Shane (played by Monet Mazur): "I sent letters" said Cary. "I made fires" replied Monet. Ya just gotta love that sort of exchange.

Rating: PG-13 (for violence, sexuality, language and drug references) Director: Joseph Kahn Actors: Martin Henderson, Ice Cube, Monet Mazur, Adam Scott, Matt Schulze, Jaime Pressly and Jay Hernandez

For more information on the movie, go to http://www2.warnerbros.com/torque/.

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