Vehicle 19 (2013)

Great Film overall

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

When this movie started, I went 'oh no, not another "Fast and Furious" car movie'. And I believe that thought was spurred on by Paul Walker starring in it and from the DVD movie's cover.But luckily "Vehicle 19" turned out to be so much more better in terms of storyline and having a solid script, which definitely put most of the "Fast and Furious" movies to shame.Sure, it may not have the big fancy cars and the special effects that "Fast and Furious" has, but it is still managing to stand very well on its own.There definitely is a good amount of action and car chases in the movie. When you combine that with a properly thought through storyline, then you get a movie that actually is worth watching."Vehicle 19" has some good acting performances, although the cast was a relatively small ensemble of actors and actresses.If you enjoy car movies and enjoyed Paul Walker in movies, then "Vehicle 19" is definitely well worth checking out.

VEHICLE 19 is yet another contained thriller, although as it is all set inside a car at least it moves around a bit. The plot sees an American ex-con land in Joburg to reconnect with his girlfriend and show her that he's changed. Unfortunately there's a woman in his rental car and, after lots of silliness, it turns out that she's a local whistleblower on police corruption who has been kidnapped and presumably would have been murdered had he not somehow been given the wrong car. Inevitably the corrupt cops give chase. Shooting everything inside or just around the car is a clever conceit which just about works over 90 minutes provided you don't think about it too hard. What lets the film down though is how old-fashioned and dull the plot turns out to be: once again we have a heroic black woman exposing the evil of Afrikaaner cops. As apartheid has been over for twenty years now, it's both tediously predictable and not really relevant to the reality of the contemporary RSA. Also, in order to make the concept work the script has to force the hero to act in various silly ways. Finally, although marketed as such, this is not an action film; there are two chases max, and they're not that great. It's watchable as an experiment in limited film-making but not much else.

The story is just another one of those common action movie plot; the main character being trapped thus have to clear his name through the perilous path. The mentionable thing is that the movie, staying true to the title, tried to make all the shots angled from inside the car. Seeing Locke (2013) before this movie, I understand that it would be very hard to grasp all the scope that an action movie offers while trying to compensate the car interior camera angle. There's the big trade off between the action outside the car and the interior feel this movie's trying to get. The story also miss out much on developing other characters besides Michael Woods. At least Paul Walker can keep his kind of usual role of a hard raised man being the unintentional hero.

Not that great, not that bad, something to watch for action lovers. Not sure it was the best "product placement" advertisement decision for Hertz Car Rentals though! Being filmed in South Africa made it a bit more interesting. All kinds of decisions/actions of the characters were a little too dumb to believe. It's like WHY IN THE WORLD wouldn't he/she have said this or done that? And it was pretty much all through the movie! Are viewers REALLY supposed to enjoy characters with no imagination to do/say smarter things? At least the acting was good and the scenes not so over the top to be totally ridiculous as is the case with so many action flicks. It is something to watch at least if one has cable and there is nothing else.