Gone in Sixty Seconds
USA 2000
Reviewed by Xan Brooks
Synopsis
Our synopses give away the plot in full, including surprise twists.
Los Angeles, the present. Reformed car thief Randall 'Memphis' Raines has been straight for six years. However, when his wild younger brother Kip bungles a job stealing cars for British crime boss Calitri, Randall agrees to fill Calitri's order by stealing 50 luxury cars in four days. To meet his target, he ropes in former cohort Otto, old flame Sway and heavy-man Sphinx. But Randall finds his progress impeded by rival car thief Donny and local detective Roland Castlebeck.
Randall's team spend three days ascertaining the whereabouts of their shopping list of 50 "ladies". On the final night, they begin rounding them up from locations around the city. In the course of their crime spree, they deliver Donny's gang into the hands of the cops and spirit three Mercedes from the LAPD compound. But Randall leaves the most valuable car on the list, a 1967 Ford Mustang, until last. Spotted by Castlebeck stealing this Mustang, Randall evades squad vehicles and a police helicopter to drop off the car, slightly damaged in the chase, with Calitri. Calitri, though, reneges on the deal and tries to kill both Randall and Kip. Castlebeck turns up, intent on arresting Randall. In the subsequent shoot-out, Randall saves Castlebeck's life and Calitri falls to his death. The detective allows Randall to go free and retrieves all the stolen cars bar one. Randall and Sway ride off in the road-worn Ford Mustang.
Review
Stephen King once memorably dismissed his best-selling horror novels as the literary equivalent of a Big Mac and fries. If King has a cinematic cousin, it must surely be producer Jerry Bruckheimer. Working with the late Don Simpson, Bruckheimer served us such mass-market treats as Top Gun and Days of Thunder; solo he's responsible for The Rock, Con Air and now this big-budget overhaul of director H. B. Halik's obscure 1974 B-movie. The title Gone in Sixty Seconds refers to the time it takes to 'boost' a locked vehicle - Nicholas Cage's car thief is given four days to steal 50 luxury cars - but it could just as easily apply to how long the movie sticks in the memory afterwards.
The fact that Gone in Sixty Seconds is junk food, then, is hardly news. What's notable is just what pallid fare it proves to be. While The Rock and Con Air moved with a certain dunderheaded intensity, Gone in Sixty Seconds runs on auto-pilot throughout: its direction by Dominic Sena (Kalifornia) offers slick ad-land emptiness, its plot rings no changes on the one-last-heist cliché and its characters are so stock as to verge on parody.
The screenplay by Scott Rosenberg (Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead) is at its most contrived when introducing us to lead characters: Randall 'Memphis' Raines (Cage) is "the best booster in the world, but I dunno if he's gonna make this one", while Christopher Eccleston's villainous crime lord is "bad - really bad". Old war horse Otto (Robert Duvall), meanwhile, is "all about second chances", and Raines' wayward brother Kip "met up with some bad people and he changed - he lost that sweetness." What makes such threadbare character development all the more insulting is that Gone in Sixty Seconds has assembled a war chest of acting talent and then let it idle. Cage and Duvall appear to be playing with one eye on their pay cheques, while Eccleston, having seized the Hollywood dollar, looks abruptly paralysed by self-revulsion.
Most disheartening is the sight of Oscar-winning Angelina Jolie relegated to the dreadlocked sex-object role of Sway. "What do you think is better - having sex or boosting cars?" Sway enquires feebly, as if already anticipating the answer. Pitted against 50 fuel-injected "ladies," the film's flesh-and-blood female characters seem superfluous. Sena's camera skirts hastily over Jolie and lavishes so much love on shots of radiator grills and dashboards you half suspect television's motoring expert Jeremy Clarkson to start providing the voiceover. The car is the star in Gone in Sixty Seconds. Its central love affair is the romance between Randall and Eleanor, the 1967 Mustang he boosts. Its moment of consummation takes the form of a squealing cannonball run through the streets of LA. In the film's dying seconds, a blissed-out Randall takes permanent possession of Eleanor and noses her out towards the open highway. Almost as an afterthought, he lets Sway ride shotgun.
Credits
- Director
- Dominic Sena
- Producers
- Jerry Bruckheimer
- Mike Stenson
- Screenplay
- Scott Rosenberg
- Based on the motion picture Gone in 60 Seconds (1974)
- Director of Photography
- Paul Cameron
- Editors
- Tom Muldoon
- Chris Lebenzon
- Production Designer
- Jeff Mann
- Music
- Trevor Rabin
- ©Touchstone Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer, Inc.
- Production Companies
- Touchstone Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Films present
- Executive Producers
- Jonathan Hensleigh
- Chad Oman
- Barry Waldman
- Denise Shakarian Halicki
- Robert Stone
- Webster Stone
- Associate Producers
- Pat Sandston
- Aris McGarry
- Production Supervisor
- Diane L. Sabatini
- Production Co-ordinators
- Trevor Waterson
- 2nd Unit:
- Page Rosenberg-Marvin
- Unit Production Manager
- Barry Waldman
- Supervising Location Manager
- Laura Sode-Matteson
- Location Managers
- Rick Schuler
- Valerie Kim
- Stephen Mapel
- Post-production Co-ordinator
- Shannon Wynne
- 2nd Unit Director
- Philip C. Pfeiffer
- Assistant Directors
- Steve Danton
- David H. Venghaus Jr
- Philip L. Hardage
- 2nd Unit:
- Lisa C. Satriano
- Nick Satriano
- Script Supervisors
- Susan Malerstein-Watkins
- 2nd Unit:
- Susan Bierbaum
- Casting
- Victoria Thomas
- ADR Voice:
- Barbara Harris
- Associates:
- Kim Coleman
- Wendy Weidman
- Central Casting:
- Jimmy Jue
- Central Casting Associate:
- Jennifer Syrup
- Script Co-ordinator
- Gary Rieck
- 2nd Unit Director of Photography
- Philip C. Pfeiffer
- 2nd Unit Additional Photography
- Chris Moseley
- Camera Operators
- James Muro
- Chris Moseley
- 2nd Unit:
- Don Reddy
- Joseph Valentine
- Steadicam Operator
- James Muro
- Visual Effects Supervisor
- Boyd Shermis
- Visual Effects
- The Secret Lab
- Asylum Visual Effects
- Special Effects Co-ordinator
- Mike Meinardus
- Graphic Designer
- David E. Scott
- Film Editor
- Roger Barton
- Additional Editor
- Joel Negrõn
- Visual Effects Editor
- Paisley Pappé
- Art Directors
- Stacey Litoff-Mann
- Andrew Laws
- Set Designers
- Greg Hooper
- Eric Sundahl
- Fanée Aaron
- Mariko Braswell
- Stacey Byers
- Set Decorator
- Don Diers
- Illustrators
- Jim Bandsuh
- James Doh
- Storyboard Artist
- Ted Boonthanakit
- Costume Designer
- Marlene Stewart
- Costume Supervisor
- Nick Scarano
- Make-up
- Department Head:
- Julie Pearce
- Key Artist:
- Randy Westgate
- 2nd Unit, Key:
- Patricia Androff
- Make-up Effects
- Matthew Mungle
- Clinton Wayne
- Hairstylists
- Department Head:
- Mary L. Mastro
- Key:
- Matt Danon
- 2nd Unit, Key:
- Sheryl Blum
- Title Design
- Robert Dawson
- Main Titles/Digital Opticals
- Asylum Visual Effects
- End Title Opticals
- Custom Film Effects
- Additional Music
- Paul Linford
- Tim Heintz
- Score Conductor/
Orchestrations - Gordon Goodwin
- Music Supervisors
- Kathy Nelson
- Bob Badami
- Supervising Music Editor
- Will Kaplan
- Score Recordist
- Steve Kempster
- Soundtrack
- "Flower" - Moby; "Busy Child" - Crystal Method; "Machismo" - Gomez; "You Won't Fall" - Lori Carson; "Folsom Prison Blues" - Johnny Cash; "Better Days (And the Bottom Drops Out)", contains a sample of "El Bluebird" - John Benson Brooks Trio; "Rap", "If Everybody Looked the Same" - Groove Armada; "Too Sick to Pray" - A3; "Low Rider" - War; "Down" - BT; "Roll All Day" - Ice Cube; "Da Rockwilder" - Method Man, Redman; "Leave Home" - The Chemical Brothers; "Shine on Me" - Torch Song; "Party Up" - DMX; "Been Caught Stealing" - Jane's Addiction; "Sugarless" - Caviar, contains a sample of "Pretty Ballerina" - The Left Banke; "Ride On Josephine" - George Thorogood and The Destroyers; "Painted on My Heart" - The Cult; "Brick House"
- Production Sound Mixer
- Peter Devlin
- Re-recording Sound Mixers
- Kevin O'Connell
- Greg P. Russell
- Re-recordists
- Dan Sharp
- Fred W. Peck III
- Additional Re-recording
- Jeffrey Haboush
- Bill W. Benton
- Supervising Sound Editor
- George Watters II
- Sound Editors
- R.J. Palmer
- F. Hudson Miller
- Suhail Kafity
- Gary Wright
- Adam Kopald
- David Arnold
- Piero Mura
- Todd Toon
- Supervising Dialogue Editor
- Teri E. Dorman
- Dialogue Editors
- Karen Spangenberg
- Marshall Winn
- Carin Rogers
- Special Sound Effects
- John P. Fasal
- ADR
- Recordist:
- Rick Canelli
- Mixer:
- Thomas J. O'Connell
- Supervising Editor:
- Juno J. Ellis
- Editors:
- Denise Horta
- Stephen Janisz
- Foley
- Artists:
- Dan O'Connell
- John Cucci
- Recordist:
- Linda Lew
- Mixer:
- James Ashwill
- Supervising Editor:
- Victoria Martin
- Editors:
- Matthew Harrison
- James Likowski
- Fred Burke
- Technical Advisers
- Harry Humphries
- Jaime Baez
- Consulting
- Nomad Productions, Inc
- GSGI Law Enforcement Consultants
- Michael Mello
- David Woofter
- Edward W. Clair
- Todd D. Taylor
- Stunt Co-ordinator
- Chuck Picerni Jr
- Co-stunt Co-ordinator
- Johnny Martin
- Aerial Co-ordinator/Helicopter Pilot
- Chuck Tamburro
- Bill Young Precision Driving Team Co-ordinators
- Bill Young
- John McKnight
- Helicopter Pilot
- John Tamburro
- Co-pilot/Helicopter
- Wayne F. Richardson
- Cast
- Nicolas Cage
- Randall 'Memphis' Raines
- Angelina Jolie
- Sara 'Sway' Wayland
- Giovanni Ribisi
- Kip Raines
- Delroy Lindo
- Detective Roland Castlebeck
- Will Patton
- Atley Jackson
- Christopher Eccleston
- Raymond Calitri
- Chi McBride
- Donny Astricky
- Robert Duvall
- Otto Halliwell
- Scott Caan
- Tumbler
- Timothy Olyphant
- Detective Drycoff
- William Lee Scott
- Toby
- Vinnie Jones
- The Sphinx
- James Duval
- Freb
- T.J. Cross
- Mirror Man
- Frances Fisher
- Junie
- Grace Zabriskie
- Helen Raines
- Mike Owen
- kid in rice burner
- Jamie Bergman
- blonde in drag race
- Holiday Hopke
- waitress
- Harry van Gorkum
- Forge
- Grace Una
- Jenny
- Jesse Corti
- cop at Quality Café
- Stephen Shellen
- exotic car salesman
- Alexandra Balahoutis
- DMV clerk
- Rainbow Borden
- car jacker 1
- Victor Manni
- worker
- Sanjay Pandya
- glass house guy
- Doria Anselmo
- glass house girl
- Lois Hall
- old woman
- Dean Rader Duval
- Hype
- C.J. Picerni
- go cart kid
- Kevin Weisman
- intern 2
- Anthony Boswell
- Buddy
- Billy Devlin
- Detective Jurgens
- Bodhi Elfman
- Fuzzy Frizzel
- Arye Gross
- James Lakewood
- Greg Collins
- San Pedro cop
- Cosimo Fusco
- adjacent mechanic
- Eddie Mui
- Billy Moony
- Joseph Patrick Kelly
- Snake G.R.A.B.
- Scott Burkholder
- rent a cop
- Margaret Kontra Palmer
- televangelist wife
- Charlene Bloom
- swimming girl
- Kevin West
- intern 1
- Billy 'Sly' Williams
- cop
- Alex Walters
- fireman
- Lombardo Boyar
- paramedic
- Angela Tassoni
- accident victim
- Scott Rosenberg
- private doctor
- Steve Danton
- G.R.A.B. officer 2
- Tyler Patton
- security guard
- Carmen Argenziano
- Detective Mayhew
- Dan Hildebrand
- Saul
- King Alexander
- bar dude
- Nick Meaney
- thug
- Michael A. Pena
- Ignacio
- Juan Pina
- gang banger 2
- Tim dezarn
- shotgun guy
- John Carroll Lynch
- impound manager
- Doug Bennett
- Mel, wrecked driver
- Bob Sattler
- C.H.P.
- [uncredited]
- Trevor Goddard
- Don
- Master P
- Bob Trutwell
- Ken Jenkins
- televangelist
- Certificate
- tbc
- Distributor
- Buena Vista International (UK)
- tbc feet
- tbc minutes
- Dolby Digital/DTS/SDDS
- In Colour
- Prints by
- Technicolor
- Anamorphic [Panavision]