“GTMax” is a French thriller about armed robberies pulled off with the aid of souped-up scooters.
No, not Vespas. But modified small-wheel street commuters turned into “battle tanks.”
So the promise of the premise is the sight of superscooters and dirt bikes tearing through the narrow cobblestoned alleys, along the Seine and all over Paris. This promise is at long last fulfilled in the third act, and that chase is pretty impressive.
But the movie that gets us there is dumb, talky and pokey in the extreme.
It begins with a dull set-up that goes on an on — a bike-modifying gang led by Elyas (Jalil Lespert) pursued by a furious, ex-Motocrosser cop Delvo (Thibaut Evrard) draw in siblings from dirt bike racing’s royal family (Ava Baya and Riadh Belaïche).
Meanwhile, in a scene that goes on too long, but not as long as an actual “real” race, Michael (Belaïche) has just lost the motocross championship and tarnished the family legacy, cost them sponsorships and could bankrupt the lot of them. Sister, ex-racer turned bike-tuner Soélie (Baya) must save their skins when Elyas & Co. come calling for bikes tough and fast enough to crash their way into hijacking a shipment of jewels.
The performances are overwhelmingly…adequate.
It took four credited screenwriters (stuntman/director Olivier Schneider added his two-Euros-worth) to cook up “the accident” that made Soélie afraid to mount up again and a finale that’s too illogical to comprehend.
Everything here is generic, right down to the dialogue.
“Whatever happens, we stay alive” is the biker family’s motto. The gangsters? “They’re in this for the adrenalin rush, not the cash!”
“Trust me, OK?” is sure to be trotted out. And when you really need somebody’s attention, “Hey, look at me, LOOK at me” always works.
Well, it “works” in bad scripts. Or is supposed to. In French or dubbed into English.
Rating: TV-MA, violence, smoking, profanity
Cast: Ava Baya, Jalil Lespert, Thibaut Evrard, Riadh Belaïche, Samir Decazza and Gérard Lanvin
Credits: Directed by Olivier Schneider, scripted by Jean-André Yerlès, Rémi Leautier, Rachid Santaki and Jordan Pavlik. A Netflix release.
Running time: 1:40
