Cocky and high strung inventor Ralph Korda (a grouchy and unappealing Jurgen Prochnow), who has created an environmentally friendly car that doesn't run on gas, finds himself the target of various powerful car manufacturers after he supplies a German automaker with a prototype for testing.
Sounds pretty cool and exciting, right? Well, it just ain't, thanks to Michael Verhoeven's overly ostentatious direction (this whole movie has the self-consciously flashy'n'trashy glowing neon look of a vintage 80's music video complete with lots of hazy back lighting and hyperactive camera-work), a convoluted and meandering narrative that gets bogged in way too much dull talk, a pounding rock soundtrack that's more headache-inducing than rousing, atrocious dubbing, and, worst of all, an arrogant brooding jerk of a main character who's impossible to either like or care about. Senta Berger mostly just stands around as smitten secretary Marie Landauer while William Conrad adds some much needed (and appreciated) rip-snorting vitality as jolly auto magnet Mr. Mahoney. A messy subplot involving an angry gang of punks on a destructive rampage primarily gets in the way of the central story and although the occasional wild car chases are well staged, they overall don't add much to the picture. Drab and heavy-handed, it's basically a stinker.
Sounds pretty cool and exciting, right? Well, it just ain't, thanks to Michael Verhoeven's overly ostentatious direction (this whole movie has the self-consciously flashy'n'trashy glowing neon look of a vintage 80's music video complete with lots of hazy back lighting and hyperactive camera-work), a convoluted and meandering narrative that gets bogged in way too much dull talk, a pounding rock soundtrack that's more headache-inducing than rousing, atrocious dubbing, and, worst of all, an arrogant brooding jerk of a main character who's impossible to either like or care about. Senta Berger mostly just stands around as smitten secretary Marie Landauer while William Conrad adds some much needed (and appreciated) rip-snorting vitality as jolly auto magnet Mr. Mahoney. A messy subplot involving an angry gang of punks on a destructive rampage primarily gets in the way of the central story and although the occasional wild car chases are well staged, they overall don't add much to the picture. Drab and heavy-handed, it's basically a stinker.