Fairly brainless stuff that may appeal to those just looking for effects and speed sans logic or realism

Rating: Null/10 (19 November 2006)

Jimmy Bly is an up and coming name in Formula 1. He is leading the championship with rival Beau Brandenburg but the pressure is starting to take hold. To help out, team boss Carl Henry brings in old pro Joe Tanto to replace Bly's team mate Memo Moreno. Joe tries to reach Bly and give him the benefit of his experience off the track as well as his skills on the track. Meanwhile, off the track a tangled web of simmering romances, lost loves, friendships and past conflicts conspire to make the championship about more than the result of twenty races.
This film seemed to do almost nothing in the UK cinemas but when it came to TV I caught it. I could vaguely remember a lot of talk about Stallone wanting to make a Formula 1 movie and as a semi-fan of the sport I knew he was often to be found hanging around the pits. This labour of love then, has created a film that is about as generic and obvious as you could want it to be. At the core of the story is a couple of old chestnuts about, well, an old chestnut teaching a rookie the ropes while the rookie undergoes a crisis of confidence. Obviously worried that these clichés wouldn't be enough, the writers load the film with lots of romances, conflicts and so on. Narrative-wise none of them really work since all of them are half-cooked and just designed to fill the time rather than do anything special.
The action is what most viewers will be here for and I suppose it is at least noisy and "high-octane". Fans of Formula 1 in its "pure" form will baulk at the overblown races and the absurd car chase and even those who find F1 dull will find themselves snickering at the silliness of the whole thing. With all this happening the cast are stuck in the middle. Stallone is a solid presence but is really just acting for his own sake rather than the film. Pardue is far too bland to care the film and seems to have little or no range to speak of. Schweiger has been told to "do a Schumacher" and this is all he does. De la Fuente has heard a voice telling him to "do a Van Damme" so this is what he does while a totally wasted Gershon molls beside him through gritted teeth. Warren is pretty while Reynolds doesn't convince in his scenes and looks like a man who has been pulled and tucked five too many times.
Overall then this is movie-by-numbers time. There is nothing specific to watch it for really; the plot is delivered in basic blocks while the action may please some but is generally too overblown and silly to really engage or convince. Fun for Stallone to indulge himself while making it I'm sure but sadly nobody really seemed to be thinking about the audience that much.