One Fast Move
The vroom vroom is enough for the Toombs Toombs.
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If you’ve ever watched a sports flick, a film concerning an estranged father-son relationship or some combination of the two (they often work hand-in-hand) then nothing in actor-turned-writer/director Kelly Blatz’ motorcycle-racing movie “One Fast Move” (premiering on Amazon Prime Video Thursday, Aug. 8) will come as a surprise to you. Despite not reinventing the wheel the picture has enough going for it to be worth a watch.
“Riverdale” alum K.J. Apa stars as Wes Neal (You can never trust a man with two first names!), a dishonorably discharged soldier who was imprisoned for illegally racing motorcycles and evading military police.
Wes returns home to Atlanta after being released in hopes of rekindling a relationship with his absentee biological father Dean Miller (Dr. McSteamy himself, Eric Dane), an aged professional motorcycle racer. Wes – wanting to follow in Dean’s footsteps – gets a job working in a shop belonging to Abel (Edward James Olmos), his Pop’s primary sponsor, mentor and secondary father figure.
Dean takes Wes under his wing training him for a series of races against rich-kid racer Cody (Austin North, “Outer Banks”). Wes’ focus begins to split when he takes a shine to single mom greasy spoon waitress Camila (Maia Reficco, “Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin”) and her young son Leo (Adam Thomas Ziemba). This leads to Wes and Dean butting heads.
“One Fast Move” doesn’t have an original idea in its head, but there’s enough gas left in the tank for this vehicle to zip along despite the ride being 10 to 15 minutes too long.
Apa is a good-looking kid and his Wes is plenty likable. Dane’s Dean is definitely a dick, but the actor gives the character enough wrinkles where he’s never less than watchable. Olmos is a seasoned pro who lends the proceedings great warmth with limited screen time. Reficco is an appealing presence and has palpable chemistry with Apa.
The racing sequences mostly rock thanks to the sharp cinematography of Luca Del Puppo, awesome editing from Seth Clark and precision motorcycle stunt coordination by Dave Cutler and riding from talented stunt people Nick DeKay, Alex Meglei, Robert Murillo, David Soulen and David Vaughn.
“One Fast Move” goes to show that originality isn’t everything and clichés are clichés for a reason. There’s enough here to kick this thing into gear.