धूम मचादे धूम

This should have been much much better. Is it too much to ask for a brainless action flick that actually entertains! There is too much CGI which ruins the action scenes, the screenplay is clichéd, and the characters mostly annoying. Ice Cube seems embarrassed by some of the dialog he has to utter. This would have been better off as a tongue-in-cheek campy thriller. Sadly, the writers expect us to take what's spoken seriously. Martin Henderson looks lost most of the time. Some outrageously inserted product placement further adds to viewer misery. Avoidable.

Overall 2/10

The whole setup of this movie is to make cash. From the beginning the movie just looks overproduced. When I tuned in I even thought it was some kind of commercial, and I was right because this whole movie is basically a advertisement for motorbikes. The way a sign at the start reads "cars suck", the comments throughout the film "thats why I hate 4 wheels!". Its pretty obvious, even though you can't really take stuff like that serious.

There are a lot of errors in this film as well, but what I didn't like about this film is that it focuses too much on the bikes and vehicles. Believe me when I say that this has nothing else to offer then people racing against each other with a very thin plot about a guy who gets framed for a murder he didn't commit. Thats basically the entire premise of this movie, so if you are not into bikes and cars (yes those people exist) then you can scratch this movie from your list now.

One aspect that was not that bad was the use of CGI to create a kind of hyperdrive-feeling during some of the driving/chase scenes. But again, this feels like a bike-commercial quickly. Hell, they could paste a Yamaha-logo at the end of a driving-sequence in Torque and there you go; a perfect TV-commercial.

The characters also are nothing different from the typical Hollywood-stuff, and they are just as thin as the plot they are representing. The acting could be worse, but the dialog is the most awful and laughable tripe you will ever hear. If bikes are your life and you always wanted something like Fast and the Furious but with bikes then give this a try, if you want a good movie then just avoid this.

A lot of people think that I love the "Charlie's Angels" movies because I think they're "so bad, they're good", when that's actually not true. On the contrary, I think they are pretty smart (especially in the precise way they constantly reference pop culture in clever and heartfelt ways). And yes, they are totally silly and unrealistic and goofy, but what I like about that is that it's completely intentional (which is what most people don't get, and is so obvious to me).

"Torque", on the other hand, is a perfect example of a movie that is TRULY so bad, it's good. Or at least enjoyable in a surreal, lunatic sort of way. This movie seriously doesn't have a brain in its head.

In every sense a B-movie, it most resembles those gleefully exploitive, low-budget movies that Roger Corman and Russ Meyer made decades ago, where biker gangs did battle with their switchblade-toting girlfriends at their side. And it's every bit as silly as it sounds, which could be either good news or bad news for you, depending on what kind of filmgoer you are.

Personally, I knew it was crap the whole time, but still had a blast watching it. The story is ridiculous and the dialogue is ludicrous (these characters exist in a world where when a girl says "Nice bike", the guy says "Nice a**" and she LIKES it). But I cannot fully resist a movie in which two improbably beautiful biker chicks stare each other down on their bikes in a photogenic, deserted alleyway (both of them in front of huge product logos, for extra giggles), one of them yells "Bring it on, b****!", the other whips out a switchblade, and then they charge! As a classic B-movie enthusiast, I offer no apologies for having fun watching a scene like that.

It's really not all bad, either. Martin Henderson and Monet Mazur have some genuinely nice and tender scenes together, and the great, color-conscious cinematography makes everything look so shiny you could eat off the screen. Jamie Pressly is an absolute hoot as the evil biker chick, and Adam Scott scores some laughs as a conceited F.B.I. agent.

Also, several of the action scenes are pretty amazing, once you get over the idea that this movie is obviously not taking place on planet Earth, but rather some video game universe or a 12 year-old's dream.

I wish Ice Cube was off doing the kinds of good movies he used to make (like "Three Kings", the original "Friday", "Boyz N The Hood", "Higher Learning", "Ghosts Of Mars"...), but he contributes some laughs as one of the heavies here. I do wish he had changed his expression at least once, though. You know the one where he grits his teeth and curls his upper lip so that he look like he hates your guts and steam is about to come out of his ears? That's the one that he has throughout the entire movie.

Basically, I'm not gonna fight for this movie or anything, I realize it's of essentially no value. I'll just say that it made it easy for me to shut off my brain and I enjoyed it, and maybe you will too. I give "Torque" 3 stars the same way I would give "Switchblade Sisters" 3 stars. They're awful and cheesy, but a hell of a lot of fun, and that counts for something, doesn't it?

This movie has tones of high octane thrills it almost makes you forget about a storyline. Because the story seems to drag itself around. For its action moments that seems to come in every 5-10 minutes of the movie. If not for the action this movie would be dull. Martin Henderson seems to do allright, and so does Ice Cube. But it's Monet Mazur, who seems to have a great blend of beauty and toughness in her role. I think she can have a great career ahead of her. The action was awesome, but acting was dull. But then again I thought Fast and The Furious was no better. It does'nt try to be anything truly terrific, it just tries to be a movie you can enjoy with your friends.

When sitting down to watch a movie like Torque my expectations are down so low that they almost touch the earth's core. Maybe that's also why i actually found this movie to be mildly entertaining? The closest movie references here seemed to be the "Fast and the furious"-movies, at least before the movie started. But while the setting is not unlike those movies (criminal gangs racing each other in custom vehicles) there was still a big difference in how the movies played out. First of all i like the style of "Torque" a lot better. Granted, the over-the-top racing sequences with quite a lot of CGI tucked in to create the illusion of speed are too much many times. But still, there is a certain style and feeling here that actually makes it work pretty well.

The beginning of the movie almost made me give up though. The "hero" arrives at a biker meet where women with more silicone than natural tissue greet him and it almost becomes too much to bear. But when the obligatory naked skin passes by the action picks up, and so does the entertainment. Don't be mistaken, this movie is a hopelessly juvenile testosterone-fest. But in the genre it's not too bad.

So if you like fast bikes and fast paced racing this might just be your choice for the Friday night entertainment. Easily digested, easily forgotten, but a fun ride while it lasts. I rate this 5/10.