No matter what you think of the original Gone in 60 Seconds, and I don't think much of it, you have to give H. B. "Toby" Halicki a great deal of credit. The man dreamt of making an action movie and made it a reality. He obviously worked extremely hard; the credits list him as actor, producer, writer, director, stunt driver, and distributor. It's a difficult endeavor to make a movie, and to make a successful one, even harder, as many professional and talented artists can attest. Yet, that's just what Toby did in this instance, turning an extremely low investment of $150,000 into a return of $40 million at the box office.
The Blu-ray/DVD combo packaging boasts the movie has "over 500 crashes," including "93 cars wrecked in the 40 minute car chase!" The destruction is the main selling point, especially the extended final sequence because until that point the movie is terrible. The writing and acting are so bad it brought to mind cable-access programs, yet without any of the unintended humor. I cared so little about during the first two-thirds of the movie I couldn't remember the plot or the characters so I didn't know why the police were after the main character.
From Wikipedia I learned Maindrian Pace (Toby Halicki) was leading a team of car thieves who were tasked with stealing 48 specific high-end cars in five days on behalf of a South American drug dealer. In exchange, they would earn $400,000. Seems simple enough, but Pace is a noble car thief. When it is discovered that one of the stolen cars was not insured, Pace returns it, leaving them one car short. Pace finds a replacement, but the cops have been tipped-off and try to stop him, which begins " the 40 minute car chase!"
The video has been given a 1080p/MPEG-4 AVC encoded displayed at 1.85:1, and the image meets expectations for a low-budget movie from the '70s. Grain is evident throughout. Colors come through in natural hues and reds are quite solid. Blacks are a problem. Though deep, they crush often, and limited to the use of available light finds objects swallowed up in the shadows. Some scenes offer moderately defined detail while others look soft. About 25 minutes in, the image flickers during a scene with a woman on the phone.
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