Category Archives: Chase film

2022, Acceptable for teenagers, Action Hero, Action sequences, Amazon Prime, Ambitious Dirty Tricks, Based on a Book, Binge worthy, Bloody scenes, Career Competition, Chase film, CIA, Cold War, Complicated, Confusing Plot, Conspiracy, Corrupt Military, Corrupt Politicians, Coup, Ethical struggles, Everybody lies, Father-daughter relations, Fist Fight, GRU, Invincible Hero, Murder, Narcissistic Personality, Navy, Personal Betrayal, Physical fighting, Plot twists, Political Conspiracy, Political Intrigue, Politicians, Suspense, Thriller, Traitors, Treason, Violent

Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan (2022)

From Amazon Prime:

In Season 3 of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, Jack races against time and across Europe to stop a rogue faction within the Russian government from  restoring the Soviet Empire and starting World War III.

From Amazon Prime you can stream season 3 of the Jack Ryan series. Season 3 consists of 8 episodes. Each episode runs between 45 minutes and an hour.

Continuing in the view of the first two seasons, this series treats us to one action event after the other. Along the way the cast of characters and their loyalties keep changing in possibly confusing rapidity.  Flashbacks are vital in explaining the motives of the various actors in the plot.

Among the many good performance I would award a prize to James Cosmo for his portrayal of Luka Gocharov.

Expect 8 hours of constant excitement and possible confusion.

2003, Acceptable for teenagers, Action Film, Action sequences, Career Criminal, Chase film, Ethical struggles, Gold Thieves, Interest in automobiles, International thriler, Mayhem, Murder, Netflix Streaming, Professional Thieves, Suspense, Thriller, Violent

The Italian Job (2003)

From IMDB:

After being betrayed and left for dead in Italy, Charlie Croker and his team plan an elaborate gold heist against their former ally.

From Netflix:

A clever thief masterminds a major heist amid the waterways of
Venice, Italy — but a betrayal by one of his own spells disaster.

From Netflix you can stream this 1 hour 51 minute car chase thriller.

Car chases, helicopter chases, clever thieves, clever chess game of thieves against thief: Someone spent a lot of money producing such elaborate mayhem.

  • Charlie Croker (played by Mark Wahlberg) and
  • John Bridger (played by Donald Sutherland) and
  • Handsome Rob (played by Jason Statham) and
  • Steve (played by Edward Norton) successfully steal gold bars in Venice. But Steve betrays the bunch and shoots John Bridger to death.
  • John’s daughter Stella (played by Charlize Theron) is an honest security expert who learned to crack safes from her father John. In order to avenge the death of her father she agrees to help the betrayed bunch get back the gold.

What you see is what you get. But the action scenes are fun.

2022, Abduction, Action Film, Action Hero, Action sequences, Blackmail, Bloody scenes, Career Competition, Chase film, Child Hostage, CIA, Conspiracy, Contract Killing, Corrupt Politicians, Cover-up, Cynical, Father-son relations, Fist Fight, Government cover-up, Government-hired assassin, Hostage Taking, Improbable details, International thriler, Invincible Hero, Martial Arts, Mayhem, Monstrous Father, Murder, Must suspend disbelief, Narcissistic Personality, Netflix Streaming, Physical fighting, Political Conspiracy, Political Intrigue, Ruthless Killer, Sniper, Sociopath, Suspense, Torture, Uncle-Niece relations, Unscrupulous drive to power, Violent

The Gray Man (2022)

From IMDB:

Six, a highly-skilled assassin in the deep-cover Sierra program of the CIA, is the agency’s best merchant of death. However, a mission goes bad and now Six is on the run from the CIA with sociopathic former agent Lloyd Hansen hot on his trail. Aided by agent Dani Miranda and handler Donald Fitzroy, Six must be his most ruthless to avoid Hansen, who will stop at nothing to bring Six down.

From Netflix you can stream this 2 hour 9 minute complete film.

Car chases, martial arts fights, guns, dead bodies everywhere, explosions, expensive destruction, official corruption. Could this perhaps be an action film? In fact that is pretty much all that this film is: one amazingly filmed, completely unbelievable, but really fun to watch action sequence after another. Do you suppose Ryan Gosling actually performed any of these stunts?

Four lead actors are:

  • Ryan Gosling plays Six.
  • Chris Evans plays Lloyd Hansen.
  • Ana de Armas plays Dani Miranda.
  • Billy Bob Thorton plays Donald Fitzroy.

Netflix supposedly spent $200 million producing this mass execution. You might as well watch the violent fun.

2018, Abduction, Acceptable for teenagers, Arson, Bloody scenes, Chase film, Culture of India, Drugging as a weapon, Explicit sex, Fantasy, Father-daughter relations, Father-son relations, Fight Scenes, Gangs, Gay theme, Highly acceptable trash, Human experimentation, Improbable details, Lesbian Theme, Martial Arts, Medical Theme, Monstrous Father, Murder, Must suspend disbelief, Netflix Streaming, Nudity, Sex Scenes, Violent

Sense8 (2018)

From IMDB:

A group of people around the world are suddenly linked mentally, and must find a way to survive being hunted by those who see them as a threat to the world’s order.

From Netflix you can stream 2 seasons of this fantasy soap opera. Each season has 12 episodes. Each episode lasts about an hour except for episode 1 of season 2 which runs 2 hours.

Members of a sensate group are mutually mentally and visibly present to one another.

Given all the sex scenes (sensate group sex anyone?) ,  romances, violence, evil villains, and impossible rescues,  a fitting category for this watch-a-thon might be “highly acceptable trash”.

Don’t be surprised if at times you are not quite sure what is happening in the plot. Just play along for the fun of it.

 

2010, Acceptable Trash, Amazon Prime, B-movie, Car Chase, Chase film, Comedy, Contract Killing, Everybody lies, Exaggeration Comedy, Extreme Violence as Comedy, Father-daughter relations, Frenetic, Government-hired assassin, Happy ending, Martial Arts, Mayhem, Mother-daughter relations, Physical fighting, Ridiculous plot, Romantic comedy, Ruthless Killer, Surprise Ending, Violent

Killers (2010)

From Amazon Prime:

Spencer Aimes (Ashton Kutcher) is just your average, undercover, government-hired super-assassin. When he meets Jen Kornfeldt (Katherine Heigl), he finds true love… Enjoying a picture-perfect marriage, Spencer becomes the target of a multi-million dollar hit. Now Spencer and Jen are on the run for their lives.

From Amazon Prime you can stream this 1 hour 40 minute complete film.

Why brood over Putin’s invasion of the Ukraine when you could waste some quality time watching this B+ rom-com violent piece of cinematic fluff?

Did I mention that this film is violent from start to finish?  However, as bizarre as it sounds, the constant shooting, car chases, and martial arts fighting are not to be taken seriously and are really part of the fun.

Tom Selleck plays Tom Selleck, which actually works well in this plot.

Moreover, everyone except the scores of dead people live happily ever after.

2021, Abduction, Acceptable for teenagers, Action Film, Ambitious Dirty Tricks, Amusing banter, Art theft, B-movie, Bromance, Buried Treasure, Career Criminal, Chase film, Comic Moments, Complicated Scams, Confusing Plot, Conspiracy, Martial Arts, Mayhem, Must suspend disbelief, Netflix Streaming, Plot twists, Suspense, Torture, Witty dialog

Red Notice (2021)

From Netflix:

An FBI profiler pursuing the world’s most wanted art thief
becomes his reluctant partner in crime to catch an elusive
crook who’s always one step ahead.

From Netflix you can stream this 2 hour complete film.

Brainless but fun, what else would you expect from a combination like Dwayne Johnson and Ryan Reynolds?   Both of them have found their cinematic niche – stupid action films.

Funny bromance banter,  great action (the body doubles are capable athletes),  some surprising plot twists, explosive digital effects, and the usual requirement to suspend disbelief all provide the entertainment.

Popcorn and a cessation of cerebral activity make for a fun watch.

2018, Acceptable Trash, Action Film, Action Hero, Action sequences, Amusing banter, Car Chase, Chase film, Coarse manners, Comedy, Conspiracy, Corruption, Crude Talk, Exaggeration Comedy, Explicit sexual discussion, Fist Fight, Frenetic, IMDB streaming, Improbable details, International thriler, Invincible Hero, Mayhem, Mercenaries, Mixed Martial Arts, Murder, Must suspend disbelief, Nudity, Physical fighting, Plot twists, Psychopath, Romance, Ruthless Killer, Satirical ultra-violence, Spy Versu Spy, Suspense, Violent, Vulgar, Vulgar Action Comedy, Witty dialog

The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018)

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From IMDB:

Audrey and Morgan are best friends who unwittingly become entangled in an international conspiracy when one of the women discovers the boyfriend who dumped her was actually a spy.

From IMDB you can stream this 2 hour thriller comedy.

If you register with IMDB, then for FREE you can stream using IMDB some of the films you find on that site.  Locate a film and then on that page you will see a list of just which sites stream that film.  Now and then one of those streaming sites will be IMDB.

One of my guilty pleasures is watching acceptable trash films for which I need a new category.   As time goes by such films are in competition to provide the most vulgar conversations, the most explicit nudity,  the most explicit sexual activity, and the most violent scenes possible. Often such films are touted as “comedies”.  So from now on, if I call a film a “vulgar action comedy,” then you know what I mean.

This film under review fits all those criteria except that there is just kissing instead of sexual activity.

Until the end of the film you really do not know who the good guys are.  But as is so often the case,  each of the candidates can shoot guns so well that they never miss a shot.  In addition these candidates are superb athletes that have mastered gymnastics and martial arts and can leap over tall buildings.  Here the two leading competitors are Justin Theroux (from American Psycho) as Drew and Sam Heughan (from Outlander) as Sebastian.

Another requirement for such films are the wild, out-of-control car chases. Usually the car must travel the wrong way on a one-way street or highway.  There must be several collisions in which some cars are turned upside down.

Why do I love this type of film?

2017, Abduction, Abuse of Women, Acceptable Trash, Action Hero, Action sequences, B-movie, Binge worthy, Blackmail, Bloody scenes, Bromance, Brother-Brother relations, Chase film, Complicated, Contract Killing, Corruption, Cover-up, Death penalty debate, Detective, Extramarital Affair, Father-daughter relations, Forensics, Frame someone for a crime, Friendship, Happy ending, Improbable details, Invincible Hero, Marital Infidelity, Mediocre, Mental Illness, Mother-son relations, Murder, Must suspend disbelief, Netflix Streaming, Personal Betrayal, Police Corruption, Psychiatrists, Psychopath, Torture, Violent

Somewhere Between (2017)

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From IMDB:

A local news producer is given one chance to relive a deadly week and stop a serial killer. If she fails, she’ll lose her daughter forever.

From Netflix:

While investigating a serial killer, strange coincidences begin to pile up around news producer Laura. Suddenly, her daughter disappears.

From Netflix you can stream 8 episodes of this TV thriller. Each episode lasts about 43 minutes.

Give this production B or, if you are feeling generous, B+.  Why the negativity on my part?  Don’t misunderstand me, I binged from one suspenseful episode to the next. But in order to let the good guys win and the bad guys lose, this plot will supply as many implausible or impossible details as it takes to succeed.  As an example,  in one comical device that is used several times, our heroes are submerged in water and can hold their breath for practically an entire episode. Perhaps I exaggerate, but you get the idea.

If any of the actors managed to steal the show, it was the 8 year old Serena (played to smart aleck perfection by Aria Birch) who plays the daughter of the news producer Laura Price.

At least a whole raft of unknown actors got a chance to perform.

Rest assured, after watching all the bad guys come to their well earned demise,  you can enjoy a happy sappy ending.

1999, Acceptable for teenagers, Amazon Prime, Chase film, Detective, Explicit sex, Frame someone for a crime, Intellectual property theft, Lawyers, Mediocre, Murder, Murder Trial, Must suspend disbelief, Nudity, Plagiarism, Revenge, Serial Killer, Somewhat ridiculous plot, Surprise Ending, Suspense, Trial Scenes, Unjust crime conviction, Violent

A Murder Of Crows (1999)

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From Amazon Prime:

A man plagiarizes a novel that becomes a best seller, and he becomes the FBI’s number one suspect when it is revealed that the book is a factual account of a series of murders.

From IMDB:

After a lawyer gets disbarred, he goes off to write a book about his experience. He meets a man who lets him read his manuscript. The man dies and the lawyer passes the book off as his. Just when the book becomes a big success. He gets arrested for the true life murders of the five lawyers in his book. He then finds himself, trying to prove that he is innocent of the murders.

From Amazon Prime you can stream this 1 hour 41 minute complete film.

Although this 21 year old film has many flaws, the story was clever enough to keep me interested. Lawyer Lawson Russel (played by Cuba Gooding Jr. ) is framed in a spectacular and cleverly calculated manner.  He will be helped by his friend Elizabeth Pope (played by Marianne Jean-Baptiste who also played Vivian Johnson in Without a Trace).  He will be pursued by Detective Clifford Dubose (played by Tom Berenger).

What are the flaws in this somewhat mediocre film?  First, the good news is that you need not let the suspense get to you because, secondly the  plot turns that help Lawson get out of jams are numerous and too good to be true.  After he is trapped in a web of impeccably constructed clues for the police, if you are streaming, just look at the remaining time in the film.  How on earth, you might ask yourself,  in just a half hour can this mess ever be resolved? Stay tuned for an unexpected ending.

Who cares?  Just enjoy the super resourceful Lawson Russel and the fun of the chase.

2017, Action Film, Action Hero, Amusing banter, Car Chase, Chase film, Comic Moments, Conspiracy, Contract Killing, Corruption, Courtroom scenes, Mayhem, Suspense, Violent, Witty dialog

The Hitman’s Bodyguard (2017)

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From IMDB:

The world’s top bodyguard gets a new client, a hit man who must testify at the International Criminal Court. They must put their differences aside and work together to make it to the trial on time.

British Airways offered this film with subtitles.

Car chases galore, gun battles everywhere, conspiracy, genocidal dictators, romance, and a stream of side cracks all amount to a fun suspense fest. Perhaps that list sounds hackneyed, but somehow this film makes it all work.

All those side cracks are Ryan Reynolds’ trade in stock, which he delivers successfully. His banter with Samuel L. Jackson is also amusing.

And of course, the bad guy is really bad and you have to see him get his just dues.  Just as the film was reaching its conclusion the plane landed, but fortunately the plane was delayed for quite a while before we could disembark which let me see the stunning conclusion.

Just let your inner male teenager relax and enjoy the mayhem.