Tracers (2015)
Summary
Wanted by the Chinese mafia, a young New York City bike messenger down on his luck who just wants to do good, escapes into the world of parkour after meeting a beautiful stranger and her group of Parkour trainers that get him involved in a criminal delivery service for extra money.
Genre : Action
Country : USA
Cast :
Taylor Lautner : Cam
Marie Avgeropoulos : Nikki
Adam Rayner : Miller
Director : Daniel Benmayor
My Opinion
“You're one of those kind of people.
What kind of people is that?
Can't hang on to anything nice.”
On the other hand it's an energetic action movie full of smooth and action-packed moments. It wasn't that boring (if you forget about the childish and stupid storyline for a minute though) to my surprise. "Parkour", a discipline which originated in France, plays a central role in this film. Large parts of this film show how practitioners of this sport jump,roll and balance through the streets. And this of course in the smoothest way. All this is neatly portrayed without the viewer getting seasick because of the swirling camera. The philosophy of pushing your own limits, is also emphasized enough. Although it sometimes looks like a well prepared circus act where they used cleverly camouflaged trampolines. But besides the admiration for the daredevil stunts these young people performed, there wasn't really much to admire anymore.
Cam (Taylor Lautner), an enthusiastic bike messenger, risks his life on a daily base while cycling through the streets of New York to deliver packages. Until he bumps into the lovely Nikki (Marie Avgeropoulos). Immediately this bouncing chick makes an immense impression on Cam and at the same time leaves him behind with a double folded front wheel. But no worries. The next day a brand new racing bike is delivered at Cam's work. A gift from Nikki who obviously couldn't sleep because of all-consuming regret. However, there's one annoying problem Cam's saddled (how appropriate) with. The huge sum of money Cam has borrowed from the Chinese mafia. An obvious fact that he borrowed it from them. At that time all financial institutions were probably on vacation and he needed the money urgently (And I'm still wondering why he needed 15.000 $ and where he spend it) . In time he becomes a member of the group of young people led by Miller (Adam Rayner) who also runs a sort of courier service. The big difference is that they know the contents of the packages and make a lot more money with it. You don't need to be very clever to guess which decision Cam makes since he feels that Chinese hot breath on the back of his neck.
At first glance it looks like an episode of "The Little Rascals" but with slightly older rascals who have lots of fun horsing around. The movie needs a very fast pace apparently, looking at the used names. You can read the full list at TGV speed : Cam, Nikki, Miller, Dylan, Tate, Jax, Jerry, Hu, Angie, Joey, Chen, ... Monosyllabic names so there isn't any time wasted when shouting at eachother in a critical situation. Taylor Lautner has the charisma of a freshly baked pancake. If he didn't have such a trained body with relatively developed biceps, you could slide him easily under a door. Physically he didn't really change much since the last time I saw him acting (cough) in "Abduction" (Actually, also a movie you'd better forget). And the few pubic hairs that grew on his face, won't help much either. He still looks like a teen.
Teenage girls will crawl into their bed pretty excited after watching "Tracers". Admittedly I can imagine that this will appeal to large market share and that it was quite attractive for the creators of this meaningless film to start this project. Personally, I found it a typical product of today's consumption society : view it, digest and forget. The day Lautner loses his sixpack, it will be extremely difficult for him to get certain roles, I fear. I'm sure that when you register at some sports club in the future, you'll get this movie as a free bonus together with a bunch of drink tickets and an XL towel. The only thing I missed at the beginning of the film was a "Do not try this at home" warning as in Jackass!
My rating 2/10
Links : IMDB
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