# Gone in Sixty Seconds (2000)

### reviewed by
Bob Bloom

Gone in 60 Seconds (2000) 2 1/2 stars out of 4. Starring Nicolas Cage, Angelina Jolie, Giovanni Ribisi, Robert Duvall, Delroy Lindo, Will Patton and Vinnie Jones. Screenplay by Scott Rosenberg. Directed by Dominic Sena. Rated PG-13.

I was not looking forward to Gone in 60 Seconds. I was expecting an overblown multimillion stunt extravaganza featuring non-stop, repetitive car chases, crashes and explosions.

I turned out to be a bit off center. Gone in 60 Seconds is one of those movies for which you buy a bucket of popcorn, put your brain in neutral, sit back and enjoy the ride.

The movie is a noisy bit of entertainment with a surprising touch of characterization to boot. Itís nothing more than preposterous fun.

Borrowing only the basics from the 1974 original that was a Southern drive-in favorite of that era along with such titles as Eat My Dust and Grand Theft Auto, Gone in 60 Seconds centers on a gang of car thieves headed by Randall ìMemphisî Raines (Nicolas Cage).

ìMemphisî had quit the business six years earlier and fled Los Angeles, But he is forced to take up his old career after his brother, Kip (Giovanni Ribisi), is jammed up by a big-time operator who threatens to kill him unless his order of 50 exotic cars is met.

ìMemphisî has four days to gather up his old crew, plan and execute the thefts.

Considering the title and its origins, there is not as much activity as youíd expect in Gone in 60 Seconds.

While the centerpiece of the original was a 40-minute chase, there are relatively few action pieces in this remake. Most of the film deals with the planning of the various heists, plus the interaction of the characters.

Which is not to say that Gone in 60 Seconds is all talk and no movement. The car chase finale is an exciting sequence of stunt driving by all involved. Smartly, the filmmakers build to this muscle-vehicle finale.

The glue of the film is its cast. Cage is likable as the reluctant ìMemphis,î forced back into a life he was happy to abandon, while Ribisi is the resentful, bitter younger brother who feels abandoned by his legendary sibling.

Others in the cast include Robert Duvall as an old-time carjacker; Will Patton as a tough, but honorable former colleague of ìMemphisî; and a dreadlocked Angelina Jolie as ìSway,î the former girlfriend and member of the ìMemphisî crew.

Also worth noticing is Vinnie Jones as Sphinx, the silent member of the gang. He is compelling to watch without saying a word.

Delroy Lindo is straight and stalwart as the police detective out to nab the gang.

The movieís score by Trevor Rabin at times is a bit too pounding and overwrought.

The too-good-to-believe finale is, of course, totally illogical, but, by then you donít mind. After all, this is fantasy, not a documentary.

Those expecting 100 minutes of high-speed driving, grinding metal and fireballs may be a tad disappointed by Gone in 60 Seconds. It's not a big-screen version of Foxís ìScariest Police Chasesî series.

Gone in 60 Seconds is merely a good-time, fast-track feature. Merely take it at face value ó and donít forget to buckle up.

Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, IN. He can be reached by e-mail at bloom@journal-courier.com or at bobbloom@iquest.net Reviews by Bloom, an associate member of the Online Film Critics Society, can be found on the Web at the Internet Movie Database at: http://www.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Bob+Bloom

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