DIRECTED by Anglo Australian Brian Trenchard-Smith, Drive Hard is a crime actioner starring Thomas Jane and John Cusack. Or is that supposed to be an action comedy or heist thriller?
Who really knows, since production notes are sketchy and previews have been thin on the ground?
While the film releases on circuit today in South Africa, it is due for a limited release in the US next month, and a dvd/blu ray release at the beginning of November.
But, it is already available on Video On Demand (VOD) sites such as Comcast and the US version of iTunes. Cusack is popping up on a lot of modestly budgeted straight to VOD movies, but the trailer for Map to the Stars (due for release on January 23) suggests he may not have sunk to the depths of Nicholas Cage’s quest for an easy pay cheque.
Back in the day, Cusack was the cool dude playing the humble, sincere, over-articulate character. At some point (post the clever Grosse Point Blank), he devolved into a character who only wore black and wandered through way too many serial killer movies.
Thomas Jane (the Punisher himself, or Stander if that’s more your line) plays a former Formula 1 driver, Peter Roberts, who now works as a driving instructor in Australia.
Cusack plays American thief Simon Keller who arrives in Australia in need of a getaway driver. He robs a bank during his first driving lesson and Roberts then has no choice but to put his talent to use to get away from the pursuing police and ensuing mobsters as the two are chased across Australia.
The film is 96 minutes long and carries a 16 LV age restriction because it contains complex and mature themes which include the glamorisation of crime. – Theresa Smith