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Torque
Mixed or average reviews
Based on 29 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 21 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Action
Written by: Matt Johnson
Directed by: Joseph Kahn
Release Date:
Theatrical: January 16, 2004
DVD: May 18, 2004
Running Time: 81 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG-13 for violence, sexuality, language and drug references
Starring Ice Cube, Martin Henderson, Monet Mazur, Matt Schulze, Jaime Pressly, Jay Hernandez, Will Yun Lee, and Justina Machado
Set in the fast-paced world of motorcycle racing, this action movie shows what happens to biker Cary Ford (Henderson) when he is framed by a long-time rival (Schulze).
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas
A terrific action picture, fast-moving, studded with great stunts and smart enough not to take itself too seriously. Amid a plethora of high-minded, big-deal, year-end Oscar contenders, it offers a welcome contrast (and respite).
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
The movie is as adolescent as it sounds, but Kahn keeps your eyes popping with truly nonstop action and some of the most outlandishly inventive effects you've ever seen. And of course Cube is so supercool it's worth the price of admission just to watch him.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
The movie is a guzzle of yahoo-Mountain Dew empty-calorie satisfaction: A quick blood-sugar high, an eyeful of bikes and bosoms, and you're out of the theater in 80 minutes. And on a bleak winter's day, that can be meal enough.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
The first three minutes convince us we're are looking at a commercial before the feature begins. Then we realize the whole movie will look like this.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Stephen Cole
A good stupid movie: an energetic send-up of a discredited genre that does for motorcycle movies, say, what Jonathan Demme's debut, the 1974 drive-in classic, "Caged Heat," did for chicks-in-prison flicks.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Wesley Morris
Invites you not simply to identify with its low IQ but to cheer it on. This is a movie that knows you know it's dumb, and that's enough to make the whole thing worth tolerating.
Read Full Review >Variety Joe Leydon
A spectacularly trashy and aggressively flashy motorcycle melodrama in which computer-enhanced action scenes, unbound by gravity or logic, are choreographed, photographed and edited to resemble video-game stratagems.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Kevin Carr
The plot, characters, story and dialogue were all secondary -– or lower. With this in mind, Torque really wasn't that bad. In fact, with this in mind, Torque was actually pretty good.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Nat Johnson
Thankfully, Torque knows what it wants to be (which is more than you can say about other recent biker-boy flicks) and flashes a jocular self-awareness about its genre affiliation.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Gregory Weinkauf
Although the press notes liken the movie to "Easy Rider" (why not "Lawrence of Arabia" while you're at it?), the obvious comparison is to the "Fast and Furious" franchise, which shares the same producer. Actually, the closest spiritual cousin may be "Pee-wee's Big Adventure."
Read Full Review >USA Today Mike Clark
The cycle thrills here are everything: flips, collisions, a chase across the top of a fast-moving train and even a zoom down the aisle of one of the train's cars as the passengers take it in stride.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
Despite all the bike chases and bullet-dodging, the real sport here is Xtreme posing.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
The film occasionally pokes fun at itself, although not nearly as often as it should. I don't recommend it for anything more significant than a bottom-of-the-barrel rental or a desperation cable choice, but it delivers what it advertises, and I suppose that could be considered a virtue.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Ellen A. Kim
Purely an easy-to-digest testosterone flick anyway, with standard bikini babes, roaring engines and bikers who circle each other slowly in the dust before they rumble.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
Torque knows it’s one big joke, dusty chaps, heaving bosoms, and all, which makes it all that much easier to swallow. And forget.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
It may entertain you if you don't mind senseless stories and screaming soundtracks.
Read Full Review >New York Post Megan Lehmann
It's a simple-minded celebration of speed that pretends to be nothing else, even throwing in the occasional wink to acknowledge its own silliness.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach
Torque isn't a movie, it's an 81-minute soda commercial.
Read Full Review >The New York Times A.O. Scott
By Monday, Torque will look like a period piece with its expiration date, January 2004, prominently displayed. The inevitable movie-inspired video game will appear more realistic.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan
With the exception of a few dazzling special effects and a digitally enhanced camera move or two... it's also a towering bore.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen
With the exception of a decent train-top chase, Torque is all vroom and no action.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
Delivers state-of-the-art freeway thrills tenuously held together by an absurd plot, cheap but pretty leads (Martin Henderson, Monet Mazur), diner and gas station locations that look like they've been preserved in amber since the 1950s, and plenty of engine porn.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
For a movie that's supposed to be about speed and movement, Torque is a peculiarly slow kind of torture. Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition -- especially not in an action movie.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Ann Hornaday
The loudest, trashiest, stupidest, cheesiest celebration of ritualized male aggression of 2004.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub
It's only January, but already we have a strong candidate for the most thunderingly stupid movie of the year.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
Torque has a sense of humor about itself, but the laughs stick in the throat.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
The final irony is that it's tailored for a PG-13 audience: The violence is bloodless, the sex is all come-on and the surreally reckless stunts cater to viewers too young to drive.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 3.9 (out of 10) based on 21 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Riren gave it a2:
Terrible cinematography uses close-ups and poor camera angles to ruin the few good stunts and visual spectacles, while bad acting and worthless direction do nothing to help the awful plot. There is no sense in the action, which lacks plausibility, entertainment and realism - 0 for 3 is pretty bad in an action flick. This movie looks to have been made solely for the egos of its actors, but none of them are serviced well.
Brend W gave it a0:
Hmmmm, ...Where to start, The acting was mind numbingly flat, the story line was even worse, and by the time the action started I was almost asleep. If it wasn't for the bikes I probably would have switched it off. Save your self the lost of a few brain cells and just don't watch it.
Sam gave it a0:
Hey Patricks S., I SURE AS HELL DIDN'T FEEL FOR THE DORKY CHARACTERS! Also, the questions I had were more on the lines of How can a movie be this dissapointing? Is Ice Cube really that annoying in real life? I doubt it. What would hurt more, watcthing 5 minutes of this garbage or getting my balls pulled off by human hands? How can a terrible piece of crap like this have made you think? Also, the terrible Dialouge. Oh, my god, here are some lines i heard in the movie, that I can't remember all the way. Hey, Bullet-proof vest, you were always a punk. Gimme the stuff, dog. I gotta do it, can't stop me. And the CURSING! It curses to attempt to be cool. Example, "You're gonna lose. Crash, looks like you did b....h. Torque is not an artsy film or a good one. Terrible, terrible, terrible. Metacritic, PLEASE send a letter to patricks S. to check these reviews and read mine. Thanks.
Ash K. gave it a 10:
Best movie I seen in a long time! If you like Casablanca or Lost in Translation, you'll love this feature!
Patrick S. gave it a 10:
I don't know what other reviewers saw in this, but I personally found this movie to be incredible. This is spellbinding reality cinema about duplicity and, worse, ignorance at the highest level. We truly feel for these characters, tricked into street bike racing because of their own greed and need to prove themselves. It also shows how some people we know so well can turn their backs on us. After walking out of the theater from this fine epic, my mind was filled with questions: How much trust does anyone truly have? Is there some inherent danger in putting our trust in others? How can we, an imperfect creature, hope to come to terms with the constantly changing world we live in? Torque is truly one of the finest action/existential pictures of our time.
Michael C. gave it a 1:
This movie... um... ya know what? Nevermind. Just don't watch it. Great then.
D. Coyer gave it a 7:
Great action stunts. The train scene is awesome.
