The M.O.W.'s Movie Review of The Chase (1994)

Not as bad as the critics said
The M.O.W. - wrote on 08/02/08

"Jackson 'Jack' Hammond" (Charlie Sheen) is an escaped convict who has stopped to refuel his stolen car and pick up a snack when a couple of cops stroll in. Seconds later, the police get an APB over their radios with a description of the car "Hammond" stole. The police asks him about the car when he is standing at the checkout counter, and he denies the car is his.

Things go bad from there, and the convict grabs the beautiful woman at the magazine rack (Kristie Swanson), and uses a Butterfinger candy bar to fool the cops into believing he has a gun. He takes the woman, who happens to be the daughter of one of the richest men in America (Ray Wise), hostage and makes her jump into her car.

The two then drive, with "Hammond" behind the wheel, out of the parking lot. Eventually, the police catch up, and a high speed chase ensues.

This is one of the most unique movies I've seen in some time, as it mostly takes place inside moving vehicles. Also, there is little to no interaction between the main and supporting characters. We also see much of the movie through the camera of the networks following the chase.

As expected, there is just about every stunt you'd expect in a car chase. I think one of the stunts was a little more unique than, say, a flip over.

Sheen and Swanson work very well together, and both give good performances. Some of the performers not involved in the chase scenes appear to be a little weak, and are only there to advance the main storyline. I was also not impressed with the TV crew riding along with the two officers who were the first to get involved in the chase.

As I think back about a couple of hours when I watched the movie, I can only remember only one song from the soundtrack. The rest are pretty forgettable.

There are some fairly good comedic moments in the movie. Some of the jokes will make you have a fairly good laugh, while others will give you a chuckle.

There is some good cinematography, with one weird in-car love scene. We get some nicely set-up shots in the cars, to typical shots from the news choppers over the scene.

I do recommend this as a fairly good choice for a second choice rental, but I wouldn't want to wait for this if I used Netflix since I can't see anybody waiting for this. It's good, but not perfect.