R | 1h 58m | Action, Drama, Sports | Aug. 8, 2024
“One Fast Move” has a critics score of 20 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, but the audiences like it at 72 percent. I checked to see what the problem might be. Apparently some critics don’t like that the track motorcycles go around the track in circles a lot.
And so, if you’re a simple man like me, you‘ll enjoy seeing motorcycles riding in circles. If you’re female, you’ll probably enjoy K.J. Apa’s brooding bad-boy looks, sensitive demeanor (backed by a bad temper), and seriously ripped abs. And everybody will enjoy the sweet little romance between the bad boy bike-racer and the pretty diner waitress (Maia Reficco).
But isn’t that cliché? So’s “Little Red Riding Hood,” but your kid wants to hear it 5 million times, and you better not change a single word. I’ve said it before and I'll say it again: New and improved is overrated.
What Goes On
Wes Neal (Apa) is a young, destitute man just getting out of a six-month Army prison stint for having illegally raced motorcycles and trying to outrun the cops. Dishonorably discharged, he’s desperate to get on with his life. Deep down, he feels he’s got a talent for track racing.But Wes isn’t looking for a dad. Wes is hoping to kickstart a career. So he says. But we know better. Perhaps this estranged son and father will find a tenuous union in their shared need for speed and the need to dominate the pack?
Other Clichés
Dad Dean Miller is still hanging onto his dreams, working as a mechanic, hoping he’ll eventually recover from a devastating spinal injury. As of now, he can barely keep up with the racing pack on the track. He denies his ever-dwindling career via a slowly burgeoning drinking problem, and by chasing younger women at strip joints.
How’s this lost young man going to find his path in life, seeking guidance from this lost dad, who wasn’t about to give up his racing career at the age of 21, before it even had a chance to start? How’s Wes going to keep a relationship going if Dean keeps telling him women will just distract him from his big racing dreams? Will the toxic parent attempt to live his life vicariously through his kid? We never find out what happened to Wes’s mom.
Does It Work?
The racing is effective and “One Fast Move” isn’t flashy or particularly romantic about the sport. It’s shot well, and registers high on the thrill-o-meter. It gives a good sense that when racers lean into those turns so acutely that not only their knee but their shoulder grazes the track—that’s done at 90 miles per hour.
You’ll root for Wes in the way Camila does, choosing to see his powerful potential rather than his poor-start past. Is he going to perpetuate repeat the sins of his father? Abel (Edward James Olmos) who runs the bike garage that sponsors the father-son team, knows firsthand the regret of having devoted a life to racing bikes. He provides a grandfatherly perspective.
“One Fast Move” is a satisfying, fun pick for a popcorn Friday movie night. There’s enough substantial drama and romance to justify the sports movie generic-ness, and the motorcycle racing feels authentic.
As I said at the outset, men are simple. All you need to get a bunch of grown men trying not to cry is any scene that involves an errant dad apologizing to a wounded son. Ditto if there’s a scene where the wounded son tries to be a father to his girlfriend’s fatherless boy. Can’t really go wrong here.
