A legendary car booster thinks he left the fast lane behind him until he's forced out of retirement to save his kid brother from the wrath of an evil mobster. It is nothing less than a fullthrottle race to pull off the ultimate car heist: 50 exotic beauties in 24 hours -- and the cops are already onto them!
I have a long and painful history with Gone in 60 Seconds. Back in 2000 when the film was released theatrically, I was a picture quality control evaluator for Lucasfilm's THX Theater Alignment Program. Due to a pretty severe problem with a batch of release prints that ended up in my area, I ended up having to sit through three different showings of the movie over the course of roughly 36 hours. Since that time, viewing Gone in 60 Seconds, for me, has felt a lot like some kind of sick and twisted torture. This movie is haunting me.
Gone in 60 Seconds is a car chase movie without car chases. Okay, there's one car chase. Does that sound interesting and exciting to you? Well, it isn't. Nicolas Cage plays "Memphis" Raines: Former car thief and professional smart-aleck. When Memphis' loser brother Kip (Giovanni Ribisi) botches a series of auto thefts for a very nasty client, Memphis has to come out of retirement and finish the job. Oh yeah, if Memphis and his team of highly skilled thieves and why-are-they-even-there idiots don't complete the task of stealing 50 exotic cars in 24 hours, young Kip gets killed.
"I was in the movie Gone in 60 Seconds, and all I got were these lousy dreadlocks."
So, if you couldn't already tell, I'm not particularly fond of Gone in 60 Seconds. I've tried watching it several times on DVD and satellite, but it just doesn't do anything for me. The plot is pretty much just hanging on a thread as an excuse to showcase some cool cars for 2 hours. Cars go fast, cars get banged up and cars even flip over! We get to witness many acts of theft, but surprisingly, only one real car chase. In a movie filled with various Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Porsches and other exotic autos, that lone car chase features an old Mustang. Frankly, I just thought it was boring. Robert Duvall drops in for a few lines reminiscent of what Yoda might say if he was a grizzled old car thief. Angelina Jolie also manages to show up in a few scenes to essentially add a female presence to the otherwise all-male cast. The big villain in the movie, who is touted by many a character as being the most evil being since Hitler, has a terrifying hobby: He likes to make furniture. Also, I'd be doing everyone a disservice if I didn't mention the plotline that involves feeding a dog Ex-Lax because it has eaten a set of keys. Enough said about that. So, I think it is safe to say that I really dislike Gone in 60 Seconds.
Most of Gone in 60 Seconds takes place at night, so as you could imagine, this is a dark movie. This Blu-ray transfer using the AVC codec is outstanding and does an excellent job of bringing clarity and detail to this shadowy movie. I detected an ever-so-slight amount of noise in a few backgrounds, but that's essentially the only problem with this transfer. The print is perfect and the colorful scenes really pop. There is a real 3D effect present in the whole film. Film grain is also perfectly rendered. From a video standpoint, this is, again, great demo material from Disney. They have proven themselves over the last year to be the top studio for quality in the high definition business. Other studios in the high definition game could certainly take a lesson or two from how Disney has performed.
Dolby Digital 5.1 and uncompressed PCM 5.1 are the two options available with Gone in 60 Seconds. Both are extremely well done, but the edge definitely goes to the PCM mix. As has become the case with just about every PCM track yet released on Blu-ray, this track is far more open, clear and dynamic than the Dolby track. Dialogue is razor sharp, directional effects are outstanding and the techno music score of the film really pounds out of every speaker. Subwoofer usage was outstanding and never boomy. However, there are seemingly long sections of the move where the entire soundtrack just seems to give up and take a break. During these mostly dialog-driven scenes, I felt like I was just sitting and listening to my center channel. Sound effects and music were so low in the mix that they were almost completely absent. So, I'm taking a point away from this mix for this inconsistently. While I certainly expect dialog to be intelligible and well presented, it just doesn't have mean that everything else is cranked down to a whisper to accommodate.
So, Gone in 60 Seconds is a lousy movie with lousy supplements. Video and Audio are great, but that can't save a terrible flick. If you feel like turning your brain completely off for two hours and watching glossy scenes of cars and Angelina Jolie, then this might be for you. Otherwise, just skip this one.
Blu-ray bundles with Gone in 60 Seconds (1 bundle)
British distributors Kaleidoscope Entertainment have officially announced that they will release on Blu-ray H.B. Halicki's cult film Gone in 60 Seconds (1974), starring H.B. Halicki, Marion Busia, and Jerry Daugirda. The release will be available for purchase on ...
