Torque

The producer of THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS (2001) and XXX (2002) delivers another amped-up road-racing action spectacle in TORQUE. It's the saga of Ford (Martin Henderson) a motorcycle-riding outlaw who wants to clear his name of drug and murder charges. The cops are after him, as are rival cycle gangs caught up in a war over turf rights. Everyone in the film is tough, cool, and has lightning-fast reflexes. Ice Cube lends some heavier-than-a-Mack-truck screen presence as the leader of the Reapers, an African-American motorcycle gang who thinks Ford killed one of their members. Sexy Monet Mazur is great as Slade, the rough-and-tumble girl Ford left behind when he had to flee the country, and whose love he's now come back to reclaim. The thumping soundtrack includes offerings by Jane's Addiction, Nickelback, Kid Rock, and Hoobastank. There's nonstop trick camera work, fantastic stunts and action set pieces--like one motorcycle chase that takes place on top of, in front of, and inside a train. Slade even gets to have a motorcycle cat fight with the bad guy's girlfriend. Acclaimed music video director Joseph Kahn pours creative energy into every yard of this no-nonsense popcorn movie, his first feature film. It acknowledges its junky exploitation roots proudly, and at times seems to achieve some sort of twisted new level of pop art with its well-paced, colorful, giddy, gritty forward momentum.