Gone in 60 Seconds - Gone, but not forgotten

Alas, poor Nicholas Cage, I knew him well... Once upon a time (possibly in Las Vegas) he was a Box Office heavyweight.  Now... well, you can probably pick up one of his latest films from those buckets you find of DVDs for £2.99 in petrol stations.  However, before his decent into depressingly-bad cinema, he made some pretty fun films.  Yes, he’s won an Oscar in his time for his deep and meaningful acting, but you won’t find any of that here.  Just fun.

Nicholas Cage plays (basically) Nicholas Cage – only a Nicholas Cage who used to steal expensive cars, but he's hung up his (stolen) keys and gone on to retire and teach young kids how to go-kart.  However, his loose cannon of a brother steals (or rather doesn’t steal – I forget – it doesn’t matter!) for (or from) the wrong mobster in L.A. meaning Nicholas Cage (the now not-so retired car thief) must put together a crew capable of stealing a load of flash motors in one night or his brother ends up in the car crusher (literally!).

If you like fast cars driving even faster (and, judging by the ‘Fast and the Furious’ franchise a lot of people do) then this one is basically for you.  It’s an action film and it’s pretty much by the numbers, but, when it’s such fun, who cares?

Everyone cranks their performances up to eleven and it all comes across as one of those adorable eighties and nineties ‘over-the-top’ action flicks (yes, I know it was made it in 2000, but it sure feels like a nineties movie) with a real cartoony vibe to it.  You have Christopher Ecleston plays the ‘evil Brit villian’ much like any other evil Brit villains you’ve seen in cinema (he's possibly the weakest of the ensemble cast, as he's hardly given any real screen time, only popping up at the beginning and returning at the end).  Vinnie Jones and Angelina Jolie are also on hand to show their faces, but feel a little underused for what they could have been.

There's a sub plot involving some cops who are on to Cage's scheme (and don't care that he's doing it only to help his brother and just want to bust him at all costs).  But that whole story can be disregarded if you're not into it.

Ultimately, it’s all on Nicholas Cage’s manic shoulders and he does the film proud.  It’s loud, dumb and it’s basically one long car crash that you’ll probably be unable to tear your eyes away from.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that