Torque
Release Date:
January 16, 2004
On the Big Board |
Position |
Staff |
In Brief |
67/92 |
David Mumpower |
You probably thought it couldn't get any worse than 2 Fast 2 Furious. You were wrong. |
114/126 |
Kim Hollis |
It's amusing in an MST3K kind of way, but that's all. |
Torque draws frequent comparisons to The Fast and the Furious, and probably for good reason. It’s an action movie that involves a lot of racing - only this time it’s motorcycles instead of tricked-out cars. The plot revolves around Cary Ford (The Ring’s Martin Henderson), a lifelong biker who is framed for murder by a rival named Henry (Matt Schulze, fresh off the bad guy role in The Transporter). Henry is in charge of a biker gang called the Hellions, and the murder victim in question happens to be Sleepy D, the brother of Trey Wallace (Ice Cube). Wallace fronts a motorcycle gang known as The Machine, an infamous group that is feared across the country. Caught up in the circumstances, Cary and his friends are forced to go on the run as they have both Trey’s gang and the FBI hot on their trail. Jaime Pressly plays Henry’s girlfriend.
The film marks the feature film debut of prolific music video director Joseph Kahn, who is well-respected for his fine work on videos such as Eminem’s Without Me and Moby’s We Are All Made of Stars (attention, irony police!). With his involvement, Torque should be a stylish affair with plenty of action.
With a target audience solidly falling in the all-important young male demographic, Torque has all the marks of a sleeper waiting to happen. The danger is that the concept may feel stale and copied, and the audience is certainly a fickle crowd. What was cool in 2000 is likely to be dull and uninteresting in 2003. If it’s sold as a high-flying actioner with tons of stunts and thrills, it still has a great shot at striking that chord. (Kim Hollis/BOP)
Vital statistics for Torque |
Main Cast |
Ice Cube, Martin Henderson, Jaime Pressly |
Supporting Cast |
Monet Mazur, Will Yun Lee, Jay Hernandez, Faizon Love, Justina Machado, Christina Milian, Nichole Robinson, Matt Schulze, Adam Scott, Fredro Starr |
Director |
Joseph Kahn |
Screenwriter |
Matt Johnson; rewrites by J.P. Donahue, Kevin Polay |
Distributor |
Warner Bros. |
Trailer |
http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/torque/
|
Official Site |
http://torquemovie.warnerbros.com/ |
Rating |
PG-13 |
Running Time |
94 minutes |
Screen Count |
2,463 |
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Talent in red has entry in The Big Picture |
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Comparison films for Torque |
Title |
Date |
Opening |
Adjusted Opening |
Screens |
PSA |
Adj PSA |
Total BO |
Adjusted Total |
Mult |
2 Fast 2 Furious |
6/6/03 | 50.47 |
50.47 |
3408 |
14810.00 |
14810.0 |
127.08 |
127.08 |
2.52 |
Fast and the Furious, The |
6/22/01 | 40.09 |
42.78 |
2628 |
15255.00 |
15660.0 |
144.51 |
154.23 |
3.60 |
Barbershop |
9/13/02 | 20.63 |
21.44 |
1605 |
12852.00 |
12852.0 |
75.07 |
78.05 |
3.64 |
Next Friday |
1/14/00 | 14.44 |
16.15 |
1103 |
13092.00 |
14087.9 |
57.18 |
63.96 |
3.12 |
Friday After Next |
11/22/02 | 13.01 |
13.52 |
1616 |
8052.00 |
8052.0 |
32.98 |
34.28 |
2.53 |
Driven |
4/27/01 | 12.17 |
12.98 |
2905 |
4190.00 |
4301.2 |
32.62 |
34.81 |
2.68 |
All About the Benjamins |
3/8/02 | 10.13 |
10.53 |
1505 |
6731.00 |
6731.0 |
25.48 |
26.49 |
2.52 |
Biker Boyz |
1/31/03 | 10.11 |
10.11 |
1766 |
5723.00 |
5723.0 |
21.91 |
21.91 |
2.17 |
Friday |
4/28/95 | 6.59 |
9.13 |
865 |
7618.00 |
10157.3 |
27.39 |
37.96 |
3.93 |
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