Summer Of Vroooom

• Share

The automobile and the motion-picture camera: these are the two machines that most influenced the shape and speed of 20th century culture. Both were transporting devices. One got Americans out of their neighborhoods; the other, out of themselves. At the dawn of the 21st century, what miracle have these machines combined to bring the world? Car-chase movies.

Prime example: 2 Fast 2 Furious, sequel to the 2001 hit. It puts the viewer behind the wheel of souped-up cars like a Nissan Skyline and a Yenko Camaro, both juiced with NOS--a nitrous oxide injection system--that instantly multiplies their speed as if they're toddlers on sugar. These cars seem to double as aircraft. When goosed by an ace driver, the Skyline vaults across a yawning drawbridge, and the Yenko flies across the water to crash-land on the upper deck of the bad guy's yacht. 2F2F has a bit of plot about an ex-cop (Paul Walker) enlisting an old pal (Tyrese) to foil a drug lord. But it pays off as a thrill-delivery system, a convoy of road rage and carnage. It reminds you of what movies are: motion pictures. Speed is of the essence.

Studios are speeding to build more car movies and inject car chases into other action films. It's more than a trend; it seems to be a rule. Says Ron Shelton, director and a co-writer of the new Harrison Ford--Josh Hartnett action comedy, Hollywood Homicide: "Car chases have become an obligatory part of the genre for summer movies or cop movies."

No fewer than eight big-budget action films opening between May Day and Labor Day boast smashing, auto-dynamic set pieces. The multiplex traffic jam started last month with the freeway fracas in The Matrix Reloaded and the Hollywood-and-Vine destruction derby in The Italian Job. This week 2F2F is joined by Hollywood Homicide, with a careering, nonstop trip through Beverly Hills and other L.A. tourist spots. Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle will show how car stunts can outdo kung fu. In Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, mankind's savior will try to keep his Toyota Tundra out of the clutches of a 160-ton crane. The summer keeps on truckin' with Bad Boys II (Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in a Ferrari and a Hummer) and the freewheelers of S.W.A.T. Fasten your seat belts and renew your auto insurance, film lovers; it'll be a bumpy, rambunctious ride.

Why this rush of car-thrill movies? First, because they can make money. The 2001 Fast and the Furious, in which Walker teamed with Vin Diesel, earned $144 million at the domestic box office on a $38 million budget. Second, because they're enjoyable to assemble. Says John Singleton, director of 2F2F: "Early in my career, I said I would never do a car-chase movie because I wanted to be taken seriously as a filmmaker. Now that I'm in my early 30s, I figured I've done that. I just wanted to have fun." Car movies also touch the infantile urge to go fast and break things. "I love to see things get smashed," says Jesse James, the Long Beach, Calif., custom-motorcycle builder who hosts the Discovery Channel's Monster Garage. "It's as simple as that."