A slow, thoughtful character drama ...

Rating: Null/10 (13 January 2008)

Anthony Hopkins is easy and pleasant to watch in this movie. However, it takes a take a while for the story to start building interest. It's mostly a lot of talking and the movie proceeds at its own slow pace.
The story is inspired by the real person "Burt Munro". The movie is about a 67 year old, generally-poor motorcycle rider in late 1950s New Zealand. He wants to set a speed record with his old, streamlined Indian motorcycle at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. The story is about his journey to get to the Flats.
The movie focuses on his charming personality and interactions with people. However, it is slow and is not really clear (during the movie) whether he is trying to set a personal record or a world record. He is in fact trying to set a world record that for "sub 1000cc" motorcycles.
It would have been helpful to know this during the movie, as well as what point the record would be broken. Things were happening in the movie - and I didn't know what to make of them because there was not enough information.
If you're looking for an action/adventure movie about breaking speed records, look elsewhere. However, if you are interested in a decent character drama with a pleasant cast of characters and don't care about understanding the "speed record" aspect, this could be a decent choice.