British Actress Blog

Collide (2016)

Score: 7/10

Director: Eran Creevy

Stars: Felicity Jones, Anthony Hopkins, Ben Kingsley, Nicholas Hoult.

Collide

Felicity Jones

Synopsis: An American backpacker gets involved with a ring of drug smugglers as their driver and himself winds up on the run from his employers across Cologne in a high-speed chase.

Review: Casey Stein ( Nicholas Hoult ) is a ‘Need for Speed’ style drug smuggler that is also a professional driver for a kingpin. One night at a club he meets a girl named Juliette Marne ( Felicity Jones ). They hit it off and become lovers. One night out side in the cold snow they both make snow angels on the ground for fun. Juliette then has a seizure and ends up in the hospital. There they learn that she need a new kidney. Casey wants Juliette to come back the U.S. with him and have a Kidney transplant surgery, which is too expensive for them to pay for. Casey wants to earn the money by drug smuggling for a drug lord named Geran ( Ben Kingsley ) so Juliette can afford to have the operation, saving her life. All the while one of the two drug lords, Geran who is a kingpin wants equal partnership with Hagen Kahl ( Anthony Hopkins ) who is a drug supplier. Hagen refuses the equal partnership saying Geran is beneath him. This is the start of a power play between the two.

Juliette Marne

Felicity Jones

Felicity Jones does an good job. The movie really focuses more on the crazy action happening all over the place, but for the scenes with her in it, she does her job well. I just love Anthony Hopkin’s work in show biz. He is just naturally talented. His work in Noah (2015). Hopkins is always the gentleman before he kills you I film. Ben Kingsley is great. I laughed at this character of his. Kingsley plays this part naturally as on offbeat drugged out, drug dealer, in a world of his own. I cant help but to be reminded of the Mandarin from Iron Man 3 (2013), the way he wears his coat and sun glasses, being all bad you know what. Last but not least is Mr. Plot Armor himself Nicholas Hoult. Lets face it, he is a video game character come to real life, complete with health regen, superior agility, unrealistic driving talent, and almost magical control over car physics. He’s not dissimilar from Sam Fisher in Splinter Cell Convection (2010), Nathan Drake in Uncharted (2007), The Bourne Conspiracy (2008), and Tommy Vercetti Grand Theft Auto Vice City (2002).

Casey Stein

Nicholas Hoult

I really do wonder if this film focuses on the concept of ‘Plot Armor’? these movie are more the same than they are deferent. This movie does remind me of the Need for Speed video games. The whole underground drug smuggling with cars and talented drivers willing to ship it. I’m not sure if any of this stuff is plausible in real life but it is fun to watch. With all of these car movies like The Transporter (2002), The Fast and the Furious (2001), and all the other Vin Diesel car movies with weird names, they are really entertaining, especially The Fate of the Furious (2017). That movie was beyond crazy wild! This movie gets really intense around the second act. You can see shades of The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) in this movie. Unfortunate the only ‘real’ philosophy movie posits besides love, being determined, adapting to one’s environment is crash as many cars as the film studio will allow you to. That or throw philosophy out the window and just watch the action film.

Juliette Marne

Felicity Jones

Entertaining film. Just like with The Fate of the Furious (2017) the movie doesn’t make any kind of sense but it is definitely entertaining. The cinematography is decent. The lighting is OK. The sets and set dressing are mostly just destroyed cars all over the place, with generic bad guys constantly shooting at the main protagonist, and always missing like a Stormtrooper from Star Wars. This whole movie is like the compiled cut scenes of a video game. They should have named this ‘Need for Speed: Collide’. The movie is well casts with some of the best celebrities today. Felicity Jones, Anthony Hopkins, and Ben Kingsley, wow! Just because their in this film, the movie is worth watching. Honestly the only reason I watched the HBO TV series Westworld (2016) was because Anthony Hopkins was in it and I’m glade I did. Yeah, this is a typical action car film. The movie is a decent watch, rental worthy at the very least.

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