VEHICLE 19
US, 2013, 85 minutes, Cover period.
Paul Walker, Naima Mc Lean.
directed by Makunda Michael Dewil.
Vehicle 19 is a thriller, set and made in South Africa, a film which Paul Walker co—produced, giving him the opportunity to be behind the wheel yet again, the film made before The Fast and the Furious 6. However, fans will be conscious of Paul Walker behind the wheel all the time.
The film opens vigorously with a car chase through Johannesburg. One of the advantages of the film is the location photography in Johannesburg, perhaps something of a grimmer picture than one might be used to, children begging and stealing mobile phones, sinister characters on the sides of the roads, visits to the townships, and a sinister plot involving the police.
The action takes place over one day, Walker arriving in South Africa to meet up with his wife after a prison sentence and reform from drinking. He hires a car but there is a mix-up and he drives away in a van impatiently. It has a gun, a mobile phone with sinister voices at the other end and, ultimately, discovering a woman who is gagged and tied up. She is an advocate trying to get information and a disk to a judge to open up a sex trade scandal.
Walker becomes ever more desperate, phoning his wife who is sceptical about his reform, talking to the sinister detective, being asked to deliver the car, discovering the woman, ultimately believing her, trying to drive to the Central Court. He is pulled over by the police while talking on a mobile phone while driving, gets the van painted another colour to avoid pursuit, but after being chased through the streets of the city, he is hemmed in, takes a media man as hostage, is threatened by the local police, by the chief villain. He is shot but not before the tape is played into the microphone of the reporter.
The film ends on a happier note than might have been expected.
1. An action film more for DVD release than for cinema release? The target audience, fans of action adventures, of car chases?
2. A South African production, cast, Johannesburg settings, a vivid picture of the city, modern, yet the poverty, people begging and stealing, the corrupt police? The countryside and the townships? The musical score?
3. The action taking place over one day? Credible? Wood and his being released from prison, breaking his parole, travelling to South Africa, trying to reconcile with his wife, the continued phone calls, the delays, her not wanting to believe stories? The danger for her at the embassy? His driving past and seeing her go back inside?
4. The mix-up at the airport, the wrong vehicle, his impatience, taking the van, the phone calls, the voice of authority, giving him information, covert operations, discovery of the gun, the woman emerging from the boot, gagged and bound, her clash with him, the fight, threatening him with the gun, his overcoming her threats?
5. The situation with the sex-trade? The police involvement? Detective Smith on the phone? Wood and his bewilderment, not wanting to become involved, wanting to see his wife? The pursuit after going to the warehouse, the woman being shot, giving him the tape, his reassuring her, her dying, putting her body at the side of the road? Smith and his surveillance, knowing all about Wood, knowing what he had done?
6. Wood and his decision to take the tape to the court, the pursuit in the streets, changing the colour of the van, the reaction of the man who painted it? Being held up because of talking on the mobile while driving? Escape, going to the court, being hemmed in?
7. The local policeman and his threats, the taking of the hostage, the man’s fear, his microphone, Wood using it to the tape and the microphone to broadcast the damaging information? Detective Smith shooting Wood? The damage done to Smith? Mission accomplished?
8. The final scenes of the cars, the rental cars going back in order, the irony of what had happened? The song, reconciled with his wife, having done the right thing, President Zuma praising him for what he had contributed to South Africa?
