Review: Collide

Boy meets girl. Girl has life-threatening disease. Boy risks life and limb to get money to save her life. But that's all beside the point - all of it is merely the starting point for Collide to indulge in its need for speed. The American-German co-production directed by Eran Creevy may not offer much in terms of freshness and originality, but it gets the job done and often gets it done well.

Originally scheduled for release in 2015 before distributor Relativity Media filed for bankruptcy and now cannily scheduled to take advantage of Felicity Jones' post-Rogue One recognition factor, Collide stars Nicholas Hoult as Casey, an American in Cologne, Germany working for a drug dealer named Geran (Ben Kingsley). One night in the middle of a rave, he meets fellow American abroad Juliette (Felicity Jones). He is so lovestruck that, when she confides that she won't date him because he works for Geran, he decides to quit his job so she won't have any excuse not to go out with him.

Theirs is a whirlwind, barely established romance. Within three months, they're living together in domestic bliss until he discovers that she'll die if she doesn't receive an immediate kidney transplant. Despite her wishes, he decides to approach Geran for some lucrative work. Perfect timing as Geran already has a job in mind: steal a transport truck full of cocaine owned by drug kingpin Hagen Kahl (Anthony Hopkins), who recently refused Geran equal partnership in their longtime business dealings. Easier said than done as Casey soon finds himself in Hagen's crosshairs and must drive one sleek car after another, dodging bullets, fists, and all manner of torture in order to ensure that Hagen and his henchmen don't get to Juliette.

"If the reason is love, then maybe it's not so crazy and it's the only thing keeping me alive," Casey reasons in the film's opening voiceover. Love may be a compelling motivation for the extremes Casey willingly puts himself through, but neither the relationship nor the characters are fleshed out enough to warrant any genuine investment in Casey's predicament. On one hand, Creevy and co-screenwriter F. Scott Frazier's complete disregard for such matters is admirable since both are clearly eager to put the pedal to the metal and hurry on to the action sequences. The sequences are well done and exciting, though no more than a bit above average. The film is propulsive and maintains its forward momentum, but there's no denying its deep silliness.

Hoult and Jones are attractive performers, but both blend into the background. The same cannot be said for Kingsley and Hopkins - the former is in full ham mode as the lowlife hustler constantly surrounded by half-naked women whilst the latter is all silky slitherings as the calmly diabolical Hagen.

Collide

Directed by: Eran Creevy

Written by: F. Scott Frazier, Eran Creevy

Starring: Nicholas Hoult, Anthony Hopkins, Felicity Jones, Ben Kingsley, Nadia Hilker, Marwan Kenzari