By: Ashton Newton
Entertainment Editor

Part “Fast and Furious” and part “Ocean’s Eleven,” “Collide” is an over the top action film with an incredible cast. The film follows an ex-criminal named Casey, played by Nicholas Hoult, who has to return to a life of crime to save his dying girlfriend, played by Felicity Jones.

From start to finish, both Jones and Hoult give uninspired performances. Their love story is the root of the film, but their bland performances didn’t leave me rooting for them.

Ben Kingsley plays a crime lord named Geran. Kingsley’s performance is over the top. Complete with his distracting fake Turkish accent, every time Kingsley is on screen it’s hard to see past his ridiculousness and to understand what is happening.

The highlight of the film is Anthony Hopkins’ sinister villain, a crime lord who Casey wrongs at the beginning of the film. Hopkins is in his groove with this role as he jumps from monologue to monologue in a style.

The plot is bland, weak and predictable. There’s not much that goes on in between Hoult getting tortured by bad guys and running from them in car chases. The character interactions mean almost nothing unless Hopkins is on screen, and Hoult dealing with the emotional implications of his situation is so cheesy at times that I laughed out loud.

The setting of Germany is one of the best parts. Watching car chases unfold in the German countryside and on the Autobahn is out of the norm of action films and makes for a very interesting experience. Especially when there’s not much to look at during the overly lengthy and uninteresting action scenes.

When trying to have emotional or romantic moments, “Collide” fails completely. The film attempts to be rooted in romance, but any romance appears to be exposition that is rushed so people can shoot each other faster. Casey’s race to save his girlfriend means nothing because there are no emotional connections to these characters due to their lackluster performances.

Overall, “Collide” is a poor excuse for a film and a complete waste of time. The cool German setting and Anthony Hopkins’ performance aren’t even enough to keep this film from being something worth spending time or money on.

Contact the author at journalentertainment@wou.edu

¼
+ Anthony Hopkins being Anthony Hopkins
– Paper thin plot