Torque (2004)

This eighty three minute live action cartoon is brought to you by Pepsi. Yes, Pepsi, the choice of a new generation. Also, Mountain Dew. Do the Dew! And finally, Doritos...I can't remember what the Doritos tagline was, but they were delicious!

Motorcycle enthusiast and all-around annoying gearhead Ford (Martin Henderson) is fresh back from tooling around Thailand, where he spent six months finding himself and hiding out from the law, who want him on drug charges. He looks up his old girlfriend Shane (Monet Mazur), who was harassed by FBI agents McPherson (Adam Scott) and Henderson (Justina Machado) looking for Ford. Villainous Henry (Matt Schulze) is also looking for Ford, trying to get some motorcycles back. Trey (Ice Cube) and his motorcycle gang have just turned down Henry's drug deal, brokered by Trey's ne'er-do-well brother Junior (Fredro Starr). Henry's scary Goth girlfriend China (Jaime Pressly) pins a murder on Ford so he, his two bland sidekicks whose names I didn't catch, and his equally bland girlfriend are on a desert run to Los Angeles, with the cops and Trey's gang hot on their trails.

If you can ignore your pounding headache and make it through this thing, there are some good points. Martin Henderson plays a nice leading man who is not perfect, I was reminded of Kurt Russell in "Big Trouble in Little China." Ice Cube has the best terminal scowl in the business- when he's unhappy, you believe it. Pressly is good in a too-small supporting role, and Adam Scott is a riot. But- some of the action scenes here must be seen to be believed. Other action scenes are beyond belief, even after being seen. The entire film is like one long video game, where all logic is tossed in favor of tons of impossible stunt work and a simplistic story my seven year old son could have dreamed up. It may have helped if I thought the cast and crew were in on a big joke, winking at the audience but there are too many wasted chances, and too many earnest performances, to make me think we are supposed to take all of this lightly. The idiotic product placement could have been played with a la "Wayne's World 2," yet it also seems serious.

In the end, "Torque" is just as loud and annoying as the motorcycles themselves. I found a few diamonds in the rough here and there, but the headache medication hasn't kicked in yet for me to recommend it.

Stats:
(2004) 84 min. (4/10)
-Directed by Joseph Kahn
-Written by Matt Johnson
-Cast: Martin Henderson, Ice Cube, Monet Mazur, Jaime Pressly, Adam Scott, Justina Machado, Matt Schulze, Dane Cook, John Doe, Fredro Starr, Faizon Love, Max Beesley, Will Yun Lee, Jesse James
(PG-13)