Review of Nitro

Introduction

You might think we`re ungrateful when we have a moan about receiving DVD screeners instead of actual retail copies, and I suppose we are; we don`t want them. We don`t want them because our job is to review DVDs, not films. If we simply had to review the material or content, our lives would certainly be easier - we`d write half as many words and wouldn`t have to constantly jog our grey boxes for the technical term for a particular digital flaw every time a Tartan release crossed our desks. But it`s our duty to advise you as to whether what you pick up in HMV, the article you hold in your hand, is worth buying - not whether you should have gone to the cinema to catch a certain release 6 months prior. If that makes sense. I grumble because the copy of Montreal-set actioner `Nitro` I received is a badly-compressed, non-anamorphic DVD-R screener with not one, but two great bloody watermarks and not even a menu. I`m using all of my sage-like judgement to assume this is not a replica of the disc you`ll pick up off the shelves. Also, I grumble because I like to grumble.

Family man Julien has a crisis - his wife is dying and badly in need of a heart transplant. Despite being at the top of the list, there are no organs available. So a desperate Julien devises a plan - along with the hospital`s shady organ department admin - to cure his wife; he`s going to pluck a heart from the first criminal he can find. Raising the money to pay off the bent bureaucrat is easy - he uses his skills from his youth as the tearaway Max, a top underground street racer, to raise $50,000. And finding a criminal is even simpler. But the fallout from his morally ambiguous action is not. He finds himself rushing through the Quebec city with an icebox as bikers, criminals and the cops hunt him down.

Video

As I said, I received a badly-compressed DVD-R and won`t even dignify this section with a comment.

Audio

See above

Features

See back there

Conclusion

The problem with `Nitro` is that it`s a reasonably clever little film, well plotted with a good - no pun intended - heart, stuck inside the trappings of a derivative, and by proxy, generic naughties action-fest. It`s chock full of elaborate brawling, street chases, fast handheld work, souped up import cars, nippy motorbikes and, unsurprisingly, a touch of parkour, all elements lifted from the most edgy counterculture actioners of the past few years and sadly, delivered in much the same fashion. This doesn`t stop the Franco-Canadian export from being entertaining - far from it in fact, but it stops it significantly short of being great. In all honesty, as enjoyable a 90-minutes as it is, when you have such a sense of over-familiarity with Alain Desrochers` set pieces and the whole flick feels like an - albeit well done - cut and paste job, you have to wonder if you`d be giving the piece unwarranted credit by calling it good. In much the same vein as most of the films it aspires to ape, it`s interesting enough to hold your attention throughout, and may even have you on the edge of your seat once or twice, but looked at objectively, it`s too dumb to be `a good film`. A bit like `Crank` then, but without the needless injections of vomit-inducing amentia.

But there are the workings of a good film in there. The structure is interesting, the narrative frequently flashing back to Julien`s days as Max, either to explain a relationship with a character he`s just met but seems to display familiarity with, or, in the film`s strongest point, to give flesh to the ins and outs of his initial relationship with his dying wife Alice - with one or two unexpected surprises and developments. It`s these quieter, more character-based moments that make you wonder what the film could of been, with its plot and ordinate sentimentality in place, but without cosying up to the Saturday night crowd. And it`s the flash-bang-wallop manifesto that brings the film down. The main villain of the piece just ups and disappears about two thirds of the way into the film - never to be seen or heard from again, and most of the film`s relentless pace - plus one or two of the narrative developments - subscribe to the `throw it all at the wall and see what sticks` mentality. Ending on an unequivocal note, Julien finally faces the outcome of his ill-judged actions throughout the film, but it`s all too brief a conclusion.

But if you know what you`re getting into with `Nitro`, you shouldn`t leave it disappointed. It does what it says on the tin (or in this case, the cover art which is begging for a place on a teenage wall), and manages to rise above its humble aspirations, albeit slightly, briefly and without the effectiveness to make it a must-see. But it`s still a billion times better than `Torque`.