Go Fast is one of the few films that actually lives up to its title in every conceivable way. It’s about undercover narcotics cops in France, who literally get involved in something called a ‘Go-fast’. Since the people making the subtitles couldn’t pause the film to explain what precisely this ‘go-fast’ meant, and since the French characters are literally using the two English words ‘go’ and ‘fast’, I can only rely on my own interpretation of events. Though it’s not a particularly complex idea, as you might have guessed.
Basically the crims are running drugs from Morocco through Spain and on into France, and they have found that the best method for avoiding apprehension is driving incredibly fast in speedboats and supercars. The titular ‘Go-fast’. Seems like that would draw more attention to the whole process.* But apparently not in Continental Europe.
Our dashing lead is a supremely capable detective with a chip on his shoulder (whose distinguished career echoes Hot Fuzz’s Nicholas Angel). Having had his mentor and friend killed by one of the drug runners early on, he gets a transfer to an undercover unit and then goes through a gruelling and hilarious training sequence involving push-ups, rally driving, swimming and being made to wake up early, to which he reacts like a grumpy teenager. The film proceeds, he joins the gang, he takes them down. Bish bash bosh.
Now if this was a Hollywood film it would be near unwatchable, I know. But the plot, dialogue and characters are stripped down to their bare essentials, and so there is very little time to get bored or frustrated with the clichés which litter the film. Transitions in time are instantaneous and deliberately jarring, which is refreshing in its way. Cutting to the chase shaves off the need for scenes that would have been otherwise wasted with boring character development and motive explanation. It’s almost as if the whole film is an extended montage mix-down of a much meatier work. Or a high budget trailer.
The audio is particularly impressive. The cars sound suitably throaty, but all of the gunfire is handled realistically, which is to say in a percussive, subtle manner. You are never beaten into submission with exaggerated gunshots, which paradoxically makes any shootings feel even more callous and arbitrary than in the average action movie. The presence of music is also used effectively. Songs are sparingly intermingled into what is an otherwise sparse aural experience, and are often produced by an identifiable onscreen source such as a radio or hi-fi. This allows the characters to mess about with the audio in real time. At one point a guy fast forwards a CD of classical music he is listening to in his mansion. I’ve never seen anyone fast forward a CD in a movie before. It made me smile.
If you fancy checking out Go Fast, it is out on DVD February 8th. I think it’s worth a look if you are into your French films but accept that this one is fairly mindless fun. If you liked Taxi or District 13 then Go Fast will float your boat. It’s probably better than those two actually, even though it is far more generic. And a low-fi French action film is still superior to something like the US-produced John Cena vehicle 12 Rounds. Or the UK’s Dead Man Walking.
*To be fair, the film does throw in one cop car on the highways, but the criminals just slow down until it pulls off, then put the pedal to the metal again.
Stephen Bain
1 month, 1 week ago
I would have thought most films are superior to 12 Rounds