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The title of this film revolves Australian based actor Eric Bana’s passion for racing cars and his fondness for his Ford XB Falcon Coupe which he has had since he was 15. He has since gone into stardom in Hollywood including playing the nemesis’s in the current Star Trek movie. At the beginning of this documentary style film, it shows race car driving on the track and the camera shots on this are from the perspective of the driver and it makes for some incredible viewing, as to just how fast these cars go and how quick the reactions on the turns are. At one point, the car goes off the track onto the grass in the middle of the track and this is kind of its landing point which is rather safe compared to what we see later in the film. The film captures some of the glitz and glamore our of the movie star Bana and then has interviews with Jay Leno and Dr. Phil. Leno has a whole warehouse collection of exotic cars, but doesn’t take his fondness of cars to the racing level, he doesn’t want to find out whether he would have the goods to be a race car driver. But it is nice to see the almost pleasant and affable Jay Leno in the film. The next phase of the film goes into how Bana participates in extreme racing. This particular race involves winding mountainous roadways in Tanzania where the driver uses a spotter. This is the type of road it might be better to cruise slowly along for scenery, or run a race along as a runner or a bike rider. A major point of contention is brought up with this race, which is the risks overlaying the thrills. Dr. Phil gives his insights and he is good copy for the movie. There is a real skill involved in getting these cars at high speeds and making the turns and the spins, a skill that Jay Leno doesn’t want to test in himself but Bana has the go ahead. His wife also gives her opinion on whether what he is doing is to extreme and at one point there is a crash with no injuries. But the car, which wasn’t his original one was ruined and the work involved in this custom made vehicle was 3,000 hours and the film goes to the guy who put many of these long hours in, so a lot of time towards something that was quickly ruined with one miss navigation of the vehicle. What really played well in this film is the movie star up close elements, some of the great scenery involved and the almost mystical views given with some of the camera work which takes the viewer for a nice ride. Overall the movie played smoothly and got a good positive response at this initial screening at Tribeca with some nice tunes mixed in on the sound track.
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cars, racing, movies, movie stars, Eric Bana, Australia, Jay Leno,
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