Torque
Joe Nguyen, staff writer
Jan. 20, 2004

Ever since the "Fast and the Furious" came out in 2001, there have been several knockoffs that have tried to duplicate its success. Joseph Kahn, of music video direction fame (Britney Spears, Eminem), makes his attempt in his feature directorial debut, "Torque."

"Torque" tries to make a statement from the very beginning to say that it is not just another "Fast and the Furious" (even though both movies had Matt Schultze as a major character). Two souped-up import cars are at a stop light in the desert waiting for it to turn green. Once it does, the two cars take off and they going racing down the highway. Suddenly, a motorcycle comes up in the rear view mirror. The bike tries to pass, but the two cars don’t allow it to. They shoot their nitrous and take off. The bike follows suit and speeds by between them while doing a wheelie.

I entered this movie without too much expectation. To me it looked like another all-action, no plot movie. In essence, that’s what it was. The storyline involves Ford (Martin Henderson) who comes back to his old stomping grounds to get back his girl and seek revenge on the Hellions, a biker gang, who forced him to leave the country. Mix in the Reapers, led by Trey Wallace (Ice Cube), the FBI and drugs, and you essentially have the whole storyline.

Martin Henderson in Joseph Kahn's "Torque"

Despite the fact that there was bad dialogue between the characters and the plot was a combination of many generic Hollywood storylines, Torque was still fairly entertaining. The chase scenes were well done and the music that played just enhanced it. The humor was in the movie was used to try to break the tension whenever the scene became a little too serious. One scene, Henry (Schultze) said something along the lines of “Is that what you learned over there in Ch*nkland?” Ford responds by saying, “Ch*nkland implies China. I was in Thailand.” Henry would have a slightly embarrassed look on his face. At least they got they got their racial slurs correct. It always angers me when someone calls me a racial slur incorrectly.

Will Yun Lee (Die Another Day), who plays Val, gets to play a heroic, loverboy character. That’s something that isn’t seen with Asian-American characters in movies.

As for the acting in the movie, the actors did what they could. The majority of the characters were one-dimensional –- they were thuggish, evil, good, or the good rebel, as in the case of Ford. Regardless of that fact, it played well with the flow of the movie. It allows an easy interpretation of who’s bad and who’s good in between the action.

While not a movie I would suggest you go see in theaters, it would be a nice flick to rent some weekend.

Joe gives "Torque":

Joe Nguyen is a staff writer for asiaXpress.com. You can reach Joe at joe@asiaxpress.com.

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