Disappointingly poor action-comedy which the director has hopefully suggested is a throw back to Midnight Run but in fact feels like a poor knock off of Collateral. It actually has a couple of decent ideas including a strong set up - former car racing champ Thomas Jane now runs a driving school and is giving a lesson to mysterious John Cusack; Cusack asks if he can pop out for five minutes and it's to rob a bank and Jane is up to his neck in mayhem.
Now that's a pretty good idea for a film and adding to the fun is the fact that Cusack is an anti-corporate crusader. But the problem is the movie doesn't do anything much on top of that. Cusack's "revolutionary" nature is limited to the bank being corrupt. There are dodgy cops going after Jane/Cusack (good old Damien Garvey playing this role once again) but also an honest one (Zoe Ventura, not very convincing) so the dodgy ones don't cause much trouble.
A lot of time is spent on Cusack and Jane bantering but really it comes down to Cusack going to Jane 'man up dude and race cars again' which Jane does, which also feels a little blah.
The script feels as though it's going to do all these things to make it more exciting/interesting but that doesn't happen - the corrupt cop looks as though he's going to do something really bad but doesn't; Jane and Cusack look as though they're going to take a hostage like Carol Burns but they don't; the good cop never catches them; the good cop is just good and that's it (I did like how all four cops ended up shooting each other to death - the film could have done with more intense moments like this); there's a few mentions of them being Yanks in Australia together, and you think there'll be some culture clash comedy but there isn't; there's something potentially interesting in Cusack and the wife of bad banker Chris Morris but it's never really exploited; I kept waiting for Chris Morris to hire a really scary baddie but the ones that come along are comic more than anything else; a work mate of Jane's says she had an affair with him and the wife believes it but it's all cleared up easily; I kept expecting the baddies to go after Jane's wife and daughter but they don't; Jerome Ehlders (another banker) looks as though he's going to do something interesting but doesn't; there's no third act twist like or emotional depth there was in Midnight Run (eg de Niro's associate being a traitor, meeting de Niro's estranged wife and daughter) or Collateral (eg Mark Ruffalo catching up to Foxx and being killed).
Brian Trenchard Smith keeps everything at a light, fast pace and the photography is good but the action is disappointing. There isn't even that much car racing. John Cusack and Thomas Jane don't look in very good shape - Cusack is all pale, Jane has a dreadful haircut - but they do provide some good moments.
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