If you’ve ever stayed up on a Saturday night and found yourself channel surfing, you’ve most likely stumbled across a SyFy original movie. These are movies punctuated by a low budget, bad acting, cheesy, sometimes bordering on unbearable, dialogue and targeted at horror/sci-fi movie fans that need a cheap short slice of entertainment. BORN TO RACE: FAST TRACK is kind of like that for the FAST AND FURIOUS viewers, but I can’t imagine there’s a market for bad racing flicks.
“Is car racing school a real thing?” I had to ask myself this a couple of minutes into the movie because that’s what the story bases itself upon. Also if you’re wondering, racing schools do exist. Brett (Davern) is a hip looking young man who appears to have the good life in small town U.S.A. He speeds down the black asphalt winding through the rocky desert with his girlfriend and is the envy of the few people we notice in town. He’s going to leave that all behind and go to the prestigious, Fast Lane Racing Academy.
Second time I had to consult the Internet is because I felt like I was missing something, either that or this is just the poorest set-up I’ve seen. Apparently this is a sequel to BORN TO RACE and from what I can tell; they didn’t bring a single original person from that movie back. It makes sense because the original is about a street racer moving into a street racing group that’s legitimized itself so that he can stay out of trouble. This movie is him…legitimizing himself…again…because…
Alright, so even with the knowledge of what the first movie was about, this is a poor set-up. I’m actually beginning to become more engrossed in the original than I am this movie. That’s not a good thing since a sequel is supposed to push forth a logical reason why we would want to watch these characters grow. The only growth that appears to take place is Brett becoming a better driver, but that’s easy to do when you race on the same track for months and months. There is some garbage drama with a female “classmate” that he’s attracted to and a rival that’s about as villainous as Dennis in JURASSIC PARK.
The car racing scenes are filmed and cut so dry that it’s like being bored at a family picnic and dispassionately watching a fly buzz around the food. One can only watch the same track and same races so many times. I’m not sure who this movie is made for. I can only assume it was made for racing junkies that are hoping for a more technical race movie. It even seems like this movie was just made out of a financial necessity for the creator. I mean the first thank you see in the movie credits is a big thank you to their sponsors.
Simply put, this movie is dull. It’s not the actor’s fault that their characters are so wooden or hackneyed. By the time the big race happens at the end, I don’t feel like I’ve gone anywhere from Brett cruising at his own leisure down the streets to entertain a couple hundred fans in high school looking bleachers. There is one bright side to this movie. If you’re channel surfing because of insomnia and come across this movie, it’s a guaranteed sedative.
BLU-RAY REVIEW
Video: (1080p Widescreen 2:35:1) The presentation allows to viewer to see one of the big flaws of the movie, different camera resolutions and amateurish techniques. This film may have actually been better through a grainy lense.
Audio: (English Dolby TrueHD 5.1) The conversation audio is mixed well, especially when characters talk to each other through in-car microphones. The big problem is the soundtrack, which is either used as a bed below the action or cranked up unnecessarily like an annoying teenager in his parents basement.
Fast Track: Behind the Scenes (7:29): I have to give credit where credit is too. Real stunts. Something that’s rarely seen these days. Other than interesting tidbit in this feature, you get some interviews with the actors, director, writer and executive producer. Really seems like a passion project for the director who used his hometown as the setting.
