Crash and Burn

Well main reason for watching this was Mike Madsen he's the only reason I decided to give this one a try,, I guess you could say it's Fast and Furious , meets Bullit meets Red Lined meets.... well on a lot smaller scale,, the acting wasn't that great to be quite honest. plot is simple ex con given a second chance by I think it's the FBI something like that,, and he has to rat out his buddies, and tell them who is doing all of the boosting of cars in the area.. you have you're typical bad guys in the movie. there are some really hot smoking women and cars in the movie which bumps up my rating from 1 or 2 to a 4. lot's of cars racing around , tires squealing, but not much in the way of a real story. the music also doesn't seem quite right for the picture as well. it's a shame because I think Michael Madsen could have done a lot better with better material.

Just watched "Crash and Burn" Mirelly Taylor lit up the screen. Outstanding. For me she was the only thing to watch in the movie. I kept hoping she'd return in the second half. I also liked the sixties style of film-making with the split screens but this style was dropped about half way through the film. The story was predictable. Madsen has played this character better in dozens of films. Erik Pallidino is attractive, but not very strong as an actor. Everything else we've seen in better "car" and "racing" movies. Even the cars were not that great and once Madsen's character figures out what Pallidino is up too, the story becomes very unlikely and unbelievable.

Previously I've seen several other efforts from this production company (RHI Entertainment), and this is the best of all I've seen from them. Though if you are familiar with their movies, you may understandably think that statement of mine is not saying much. Actually, I can say a couple of good things about this particular movie of theirs. For one thing, the production values are pretty decent. Not lavish, but it looks sunny and somewhat slick for its limited budget. Also, the performances are adequate for the most part. Madsen does occasionally show some ham, but generally restrains himself. The lead actor is decent, though his mustache makes him look like Steve Buscemi at times (this does add a few unintended laughs.)

Unfortunately, I can't think of much more positive I can say about "Crash And Burn". Though directed by Russel Mulcahy, who had experience with big-budget action movies (how the mighty have fallen), the movie is pretty flat for the most part. Stealing cars does not seem to be very exciting here, and neither do several chase sequences. The whole movie seems to be restrained for the most part, maybe because this movie was made for Spike TV, not for theaters or video, and they couldn't add stuff like intense violence or sexual material. Not only is it flat, the script is very predictable. If you've seen any other movie involving undercover work, you will know what will happen in this one before it happens.

Not exactly, just another "nice" little action movie. That has Michael Madsen in it. A man that while not playing the lead here, still brings something to the screen. The story is not that complicated and it's very probable, that you will realize where this is heading, long before a "reveal" gives it "away" (after half an hour).

There are quite a few things, that don't add up here (scenes put together where you would expect something completely different, but that's just the way it is with low budget movies). Still you can feel with the actors if you let yourself go. And after all, I had to smile after the last dialog in the film. I've seen worse, but the template that is being used here, has been done a lot better also.

Nothing really wrong with this apart from the plot, the dialogue, the acting and the music. What does that leave? The cars and the car chases. The cars were the best thing about it. I only wish they had spent more time showing us these beauties because they managed to lay their hands on some incredible kit. The plot was a generic ex-crim turns Fed and uses his skills and connections to hunt down some baddies. Usually an opportunity for an actor to show that he has more than one dimension. You know, the conflict of using your friends, and loyalty to the badge, handling the inevitable love interest.... Sadly our hero never deviated far from the happy-go-lucky car thief. The baddies were "baddies" in the good old movie sense. If they had black moustaches and wore black hats they could not have been any more transparent. They looked bad, spoke poorly and did bad things. Oh dear.

But, hey, it was a TV Movie so it couldn't be too complicated and as a mindless diversion with some nice cars in it, it wasn't too bad.