Thank God for the DVD.

Rating: 10/10 (20 September 2001)

I rented this movie last night and, after seeing the horrid reviews it got, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Nevertheless, I went in with an open mind and I came out quite satisfied. It was really nice to see a hollywood action flick with heart. The quick mtv-style editing got on my nerves. It seems to me, that many of today's directors think that we have the attention span of a gnat (many viewers do) but I'm getting really tired of movies being so choppy, frantically trying to keep our attention. In some cases of the film it was nice, the action scenes looked great and the fast pace actually helped out.
I watched the DVD version and I got to see more of what Stallone had in mind. The film would've ran over four hours long had Sly gotten his way and that would've been fine by me. I'm glad that I got to see the fifty minutes of deleted scenes which gave the characters a lot more depth and explained their purposes and agendas much more clearly than what was shown in the film. More is explained about Stallone's character and why he is really called in to help out the rookie. Also, his actions are more fully explained. I suppose Renny Harlin is to blame for the choppiness of the whole thing but I don't want to bad-mouth him too much here. The guy handles his action scenes like a true pro and he does let enough emotion sink in during the dramatic scenes. It just happens really fast.

I'm still not quite sure why this movie has been torn apart by the critcs, but they should lighten up a little. This was, by far, the best action flick I saw all Summer long and I plan on buying the DVD. I'm as into the whole art-house thing as anyone, but it sure is nice to sit back and enjoy a good ole race car movie every once and a while. Check this one out.