Landspeed - Massima velocità

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.

I was actually very surprised by this obviously low budget movie. There isn't a great story, but the characters are interesting, and the ensemble cast reminds me of something Altman would have done in the 70s, or maybe something Alan Rudolph might do. Billy Zane is a little hard to take sometimes, but I found myself liking his smart ass character. While the film is about something serious, and the racing scenes are well done, it does not take itself seriously. It has a light tone that I found refreshing. The script is the weakest link, here, and it seems as though the director and the actors ad-libbed the dialogue (and if they didn't, then I have to credit all involved for being so natural in front of the camera) but the story is a bit on the cliche side. Trust me, it doesn't matter. It's a fun ride, despite some flaws, and there are a couple of people here to keep an eye on. First, the direction is quite good. One would have thought a racing movie would have to be chaotic, like "Fast and the Furious", you know, "MTV style", but this movie feels like old fashioned moviemaking, and it works. Mr. McIntire should be doing bigger movies, and will, I think. Secondly, Scott Wiper, playing the sort-of-dumb pilot is VERY good. He looks to have directed a film, as well, and I will have to check it out.

Biggest complaint is about the crappy DVD. It has NO letterbox, NO extras, nothing. Good little movie, great cast, a lot of fun, and actually pretty intelligently done, too. Rent it.

I saw this film on the Sci Fi Channel and thought the storyline was horribly corny and the acting was tragic at best. By the way, did anybody catch some of the names in the end credits? Obviously the film makers didn't take themselves too seriously. But being a car guy, I was intrigued with the cool designs of the cars so in my typical nosey fashion, I had to research some of the sponsors and logos listed. So I stumbled across an auto racing forum that the designer of this film (David) and his friends had posted some comments about: http://forums.realride.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=145 An interesting insight to the behind the scenes difficulties they had making this film, budget and time being the obvious factors. However, it seems the main car was built full scale car and all the other cars are partial sections with the obvious CGI embellishment. He also seems to be quite knowledgeable about racing which is perhaps why he was hired for the job. Looks like he also enlisted some help from Craig Breedlove's design team too. Before reading these comments, I would have given this film a 4 but having had a little more insight now, I give the film makers credit for trying to achieve much more with little resources.

I was subjected to this movie the other night after being unable to choose the movie that me, my roommate, and my roommate's girlfriend were to watch that night. I have learned never to let my roommate or his girlfriend pick a movie again! The story involves a man trying to break the landspeed record and his past creeps up on him. While there were some fine actors in the movie (Ray Wise being the best in my opinion), Billy Zane looked like the wooded Ken doll he so desperately wants to be. The script felt like it was written for a ten year old and the movie looked like it ran out of money while shooting it. The effects looked so lame. Thank god my roommate's girlfriend likes the Ken doll look on Mr. Zane or I would have pulled this out of the DVD player and used the DVD as a coaster for my can of soda.

Do yourselves a favor: rather rent "Istar." At least it is so bad you can laugh at it's badness.

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