Overdrive 2017 * * 1/2 Stars

Director: Antonio Negret
Year: 2017
Rated PG-13
Rating: * * 1/2 Stars
Cast: Scott Eastwood, Ana de Armas, Gaia Weiss

Earlier this year, Scott Eastwood was in one of The Fast and the Furious flicks (The Fate of the Furious). He now appears in Overdrive (my latest review). Bottom line: Overdrive is strangely akin to a straight-to-video version of The Fast and the Furious.

So OK, it's crazy. When you see Scott Eastwood on screen, you'd swear it was his legendary dad circa 1960. In Overdrive, Scott dodges bullets, smirks, bungee jumps off a bridge, and drives intimidating Ferrari automobiles.

Anyway, the opening sequence in Overdrive involves a heist of a car that's tucked in the back of a semi-trailer truck. Said sequence is so outlandish and overwrought, it almost disregards the notion of basic physics. Heck, you wonder if someone got severely injured or even killed during filming.

The story of Overdrive incorporates two half brothers named Garret and Andrew Foster (played by Eastwood and Freddie Thorp). They steal top-end cars internationally and then flip them for major profit. When the Foster boys pilfer a Bugatti from an unrevealed, nasty crime boss, all chaos ensues with at least three groups of villains included (I stopped trying to identify all of Overdrive's antagonists within the first half hour). 

Overdrive, with its galloped car chases, its slick cars and its even slicker locales (be on the lookout for lots of aerial shots via the country of France), is dangerous and invariably intriguing. It's also far from uneventful and certainly doesn't shy away from violence (I was surprised by the restrained, PG-13 rating).

Most scenes in Overdrive are of the double-crossing, smash mouth, and slam-bang variety. At times, the pic looks like it cost a lot of money to make. There are stunts that defy logic, hot babes, far-fetched criminality scenarios, and characters that constantly get themselves in and out of trouble.

Yeah Overdrive could probably qualify as a decent companion to a Fast and the Furious endeavor or even 2000's Gone in 60 Seconds. Just watch for a hike down in the acting department and a hike up in the cheesiness factor. Rating: 2 and a half stars.

Written by Jesse Burleson