Torque Details

Tongue-in-cheek trash with flash doesn't get much more enjoyable than the feature debut of music video director Joseph Kahn. A two-wheel Fast and the Furious, this pokes as much fun at the “choppers and chicks” genre as it does its high-gear self. The improbable tale has ace biker Martin Henderson returning from Thailand to clear his name of drug-smuggling charges, only to be framed for murder. The script is dumb and the acting dumber, with everyone shouting or snarling lines that all seem to end with “bitch!”, but it doesn't matter. Kahn knows the audience wants to see mega-octane thrills and pumped-up spills and he doesn't disappoint. The road rage face-offs are amazing, the bike chase atop and inside a moving train is astonishing and the final pursuit through the streets of LA reaches video-game levels of excitement. This is a greased-lightning adrenaline rush that works best if you don't take it too seriously.

A throwback to the sort of movie Roger Corman used to churn out in his heyday, except this will wither even faster; it draws on video-game imagery for its computer-enhanced chases.