Les Pilotes de l'extrême

Of course maybe that's just because it sits pretty much alone in the category. Low budget, bad script, questionable physics explanations, and inadvertently mocking the very thing you are supposed to be honoring are all there. Try and find "The Mission" BBC documentary video on the Thrust SSC actually breaking Mach 1. Much more drama and coolness.

MAK

This had so much potential but fell short on many levels.

First...hard to imagine a $50 million dollar prize...if the winner gets that much...how much do the initial investors and organizers make?

Why couldn't anybody afford to put their logo on a car that is going to make part of history? Nobody can throw a sticker on a high powered race car for any sort of sponsorship money? The car was almost 20 feet long, if not longer and nobody had the guts to go to a 7-11 and say to the guys...hey, we got a 2 million dollar car that needs a logo on the side...how much money you got to throw up a sticker so that millions of viewers can see this advertising? Come on...they are in America...land of the conglomerate and corporations. Somebody somewhere wants instantaneous brand recognition...not just the oil refineries.

One very very important note...during a highly televised event, there were barely any spectators, no vendors, barely any news-crews or journalists. NOBODY cheered...

I've seen street-fights with more crowd participation and turnout.

What was supposed to be the buildup of such an extravagant event in history was dismissed as if it was just 2 dudes with a Mustang and a Camaro street racing in an empty shopping mall parking lot.

While it had action....there was nothing to sustain it, to make it seem real. If there was a crowd, and groupies and hot models wearing swimsuits with beer banners sewn across the mid-waist, then it would be a kick ass event. There were no t-shirt vendors, or food, souvenir or camera tents. Nothing that makes this seem like a spectator sport.

There is no pull for the viewer to root for any nation in-particular or for a driver.

There is no sneakiness or regret, anger or hostility that real drivers or athletes in competition face.

A montage to signify the building of the cars, the pit crew making adjustments to the motor...you got to have a montage...even Rocky had a montage...always fade out on a montage.

So...here it is, a bigger budget, a more well known cast, some reworking of the script, more extras for fill in, accommodating theme music, fast cuts and cameras placed at the base of the car while it was in motion would bring this to an edge of your seat race flick with a hotshot driver and a hotshot car to boot.

And then the time-line when this all happens...there is nothing to signify how long preparation takes from the opening scenes to the finale...which needed dire improvement. Was it 1 week? 1 month? Not truly terrible by any means, but when you view it...and you will, you will realize that it has so much more potential.

Maybe a bigger budget would have worked it good...and yes, another name aside of Billy Zane wouldn't hurt either, but the actual buildup was a letdown, which is so common in many films produced and/or distributed by the companies that are associated with this film.

They build it up, only to let something fizzle and dissolve into a disappointment which leaves the viewer-(us)feeling empty.

Sometimes it's the music - something that is supposed to be so intense on screen is often devalued because there is no background music score to heighten and elevate the scene or dialog or action. Tension in a race car is evident and a definite. It's SUPPOSED to be a challenge, not a Sunday stroll in the countryside.

Sometimes it's the lack of use of close-ups or fast cuts...but whatever it is, in Landspeed...where it's all about action and speed, it leaves the scenes empty and desolate.

So even if they broke Mach 5, big flicking deal. There is nothing to make us grip our seats and say..."wow...that was so cool" or "holy shot, what a move" So when you rent or buy, steal or borrow this movie...you have to imagine more than what you see from the screen, put the two together, drink some alcohol and maybe smoke some weed too...then you will enjoy this more than being straight, sober and the time that passes you by will seem well worth it.

When making an action film-NEVER NEVER NEVER skimp on the action or the budget...they go hand in hand. Not necessarily meaning lots of fire and explosions, but something that keeps the ACTION alive to be called ACTION.

What an oddly endearing film. Added to my ZipQueue a while ago when I was obsessing over Ray Wise, I was taken by what I expected to be a dull, plodding, lifeless low budget piece of crap action movie (based on the plot and those involved in the production and financing areas), which turned out to be a warm, inviting, odd little humorous adventure with some decent 'action' bits. It's not a great film, its flaws plain to the eye, but it is really quite well-made for something of this sort, and many of the cast members are very charming and fun to watch, especially Zane and Wise. A movie which was probably fun to make and was definitely fun to watch, and something of a little hidden gem in that vast cinematic world, an unexpected surprise. I don't know if this is a full-on recommendation, but if you're looking for something light and fun and not-so-well-known, or if you're a fan of one of the actors, there are worse things to do with your time.

The movie had elements I like to see.

Realism - (if a car was to travel at mach two, the movie portyed it in a very real way unlike fast and furious which had guys drag racing thru a city over a 100 mph for 5 minutes.)

Comradery - They portryed relationships between friends and competitors in racing circles in a very positive and real way.

Other than some more lessons for the writers and a boost in the budget, the movie was better than I had expected.

Mike

I love movies, simple as that. As a result I've seen a great many of them, often more than once.

Naturally there are good movies, great movies, bad movies and some dreadful movies. Once in a while, a movie is screened that is so awful, it actually becomes compelling to watch to the finish, like some kind of masochistic exercise into new areas of self abuse.

"Landspeed" has fallen into a new category for me. It was in all aspects so terrible, I felt compelled to finish it....but now I WISH I HADN'T! I am intrigued by what must happen to actors for them to accept projects such as this, and then further degrade the failed project with unutterably awful performances. Tell me it ain't so, Billy Zane, tell me it just ain't so.

If you notice this movie on a schedule, avoid it as if it were a black hole, because nothing can escape its ghastly gravity! If I may make a cinematic metaphor; "Landspeed" makes "The Black Hole" look like "Casablanca." More about "The Black Hole" later.