toenail2727 The 2 reasons i watched this movie are i live on the Gold Coast Australia where this movie is set and i am a huge John Cusack fan. I have to yell John what were you thinking this movie is badly written badly directed and unfortunately full of seriously bad acting.I think it was meant to be a action comedy film but the action is b-grade and the comedy is not funny. Don't be fooled by the cover it is terrible. Sorry 4.3 rating is about 3.3 to much.I like to always put at least 1 positive or 1 negative about a movie i review. The only positive i can muster is thankfully it went straight to DVD.

jimbo-53-186511 Peter Roberts (Thomas Jane) is a former professional racing driver turned driving instructor. He lives with his lawyer wife and young daughter. When he goes into work, he finds himself unexpectedly teaching new student Simon Keller (John Cusack). However, Keller isn't interested in learning to drive and deliberately books a lesson with Roberts with the sole intention of using him as his getaway driver for a bank robbery that he intends to commit - due to Roberts reputation as a professional driver. Once the robbery has taken place, Keller finds himself on the run from several parties with Roberts as an accessory to the crime.Laboured and laughter free are probably the best words to describe this appalling excuse of a film; it started off badly and just never recovered. There are holes in the script right from the start - when Keller is having his supposed driving lesson and starts driving like a lunatic, yet Roberts (the instructor) is not able to do anything about it. Do driving school cars not have dual controls in Australia? Keller pulls up halfway through a driving lesson for a cup of coffee - who the hell would do that? Despite this, Roberts still isn't suspicious that something is amiss with Keller. Come on!Keller and Roberts are on the run from the police, the feds, and assassins within Rossi's organisation, but decide to make several routine stops along the way so that they can rob cars from people. What was the point in doing that? They ditched Roberts' car and swapped it for a different car after they had evaded the police so the police would have still been looking for the original car. Outside of the ridiculous script, the film also boasts some of the most pathetic car chases that I've ever seen. This film is supposed to be an action comedy...hmmm well there was some action, but I didn't see any comedy. It's very rare that I don't laugh at least once even when I watch a bad comedy, but I honestly did not laugh once throughout this sorry mess of a film. The chemistry between Cusack and Jane was awkward and as mentioned every single attempt at creating humour was a misfire.The performances across the board were pretty poor as well; Cusack, for me, tried too hard and I expect that he was trying to compensate for the shoddy material that he was given to work with. Jane doesn't fare any better and just wasn't convincing in his respective role.The thing that annoyed me the most about this film was some of the twists later in the film; for about 2/3 of the running time Roberts keeps harping on about wanting Keller to let him go and stating that he doesn't want to be his getaway driver. However, in the final 1/3 of the film Roberts willingly assists Keller and actually ended up more like an accomplice. The sole thing this film had going for it up to this point was Roberts likability, but even that disappeared out of the window. Worse still, Roberts is branded a hero at the end of the film getting sponsorship deals to re-ignite his racing career even though he clearly acted more like an accomplice than a mere kidnapped getaway driver in the later stages. So not only was the film laboured and laughter-free it also arrives at a conclusion that was completely immoral. 0 out of 10. Pathetic!

iain-96 Big fan of John Cusack so his participation in this movie makes me kind of sad. John quality over quantity should be your motto.Not sure if it Thomas Jane that annoys me or his character. Either way he really grates on me every time I see him on screen.This movie has to be the worst I have seen in a long time. So many plot and credibility holes. It looks like it was filmed very quickly with little or no thought to script development.Always good to see an Australian based movie and it would have put some food on the table for local actors and techs, which is the only beneficial outcome of this effort.Avoid if you can, unless you are a fan of movies that are so bad that the are funny.

Robert W. Think of this in the mid-late 1980's and you would have a cult classic on your hands today. This is the sort of buddy-criminal movie you just don't see anymore. Fast cars, chases, shoot-outs, one liners, gratuitous bad language...the 80's lover in me had to at least be entertaining by this straight to video entry. It isn't brilliant by any means and it falls short in many respects but for what it is, its fun and wild and the vitally important chemistry between the leads works pretty well. This is the sort of drive-in fluff that you can sit back and enjoy. If you try to dissect it then it falls apart and you'll hate it. Its nothing more than 70's/80's era fluff and I'm okay with that. Some of the performances (especially the supporting cast) is downright cheesy and I would have expected them to use the Australian backdrop a lot more. I am a huge fan of Australian horror films but how often do we get an action type film out of there and I really would expect any good director or cinematographer to utilize the beautiful and often rugged countryside and we don't get a lot of that.The film features two actors I've always enjoyed. I think John Cusack has built up a solid fan base and he has had some bonified huge success. The problem is that as of late he's a had a strong of straight to DVD films for some reason. Now that being said, all of those movies that I've seen have been at least okay. If I had paid to see Drive Hard in the theatre I wouldn't have disappointed. Its a tried and true popcorn type flick so why not! Cusack is decent and plays a typical role for him as a bank robber with a little edge. Its far from his best role and there is very little depth to his character but it works and his charisma is good enough to make it watchable. Thomas Jane is sort of hit and miss with roles too but I actually thought he was really good in this. He's a former race car drive who gets inadvertently recruited by Cusack and suddenly the two men are on the run together. Their back and forth banter works well and their chemistry is good. Its not amazing...its not Mel Gibson/Danny Glover but it keeps the pace going and will certainly at least make you laugh a few times. Jane is manic and excitable and fun to watch. The supporting cast are all pretty good but there is a lot of them and they sort of get buried in the process of the plot. Zoe Ventoura plays a good solid and little bit campy role as Agent Walker. I think they could have done a lot more with her role but it is what it is. Damien Garvey, Christopher Morris and Jesse Spence are all good but very underused in the film. The film makers and writers spent so much time focusing on the slapstick camaraderie of the two leads that they forget about supporting cast and the plot feels slapped together and forced sometimes. Its unfortunate because they are on to something here.Director Brian Trenchard-Smith is not new to directing. He's been around a long time and he's done some great TV and some even better cult classics. In a less experienced director's hands this probably would have been a Grade A disaster. He holds it together very well and fortunately the charisma of both of the leads makes this at least passable and gives it a fun cult feel to it. Without our director and Cusack and Jane, this probably would have been barely even watchable. I'm still not sure about the twists and turns to the plot and even if I got any of it but I'm also quite sure that I don't care. It was fun and wild and the car chases were well shot and didn't feel like regurgitated Fast and The Furious scenes which isn't easy to do nowadays. You have to go in with low expectations because it is what it is. But if you turn your brain off, pop some popcorn and just sit back and let the zany story take hold...you might have some fun. 6.5/10