VFX artists tear apart scenes from Torque, an infamous Fast & Furious motorcycle ripoff. Directed by Joseph Kahn, Torque tells the story of Ford (Martin Henderson), a biker who returns from Thailand to find himself the target of two dangerous street gangs. The film, which was written by Matt Johnson and also stars Ice Cube, Monet Mazur, Dane Cook, and Max Beesley, came out three years after The Fast and the Furious (2001), and was clearly heavily inspired by the film in terms of its characters, storylines, and over-the-top action sequences.
In a recent episode of their “VFX Artists React” YouTube series, the VFX artists at Corridor Crew analyze scenes from Torque, forgoing a lot of their more technical analysis to instead poke fun at the sheer ridiculousness of the film’s various action scenes. They draw attention to the movie’s very obvious product integration with the framing for Pepsi and Mountain Dew advertisements, with co-host Jordan Allen joking, “I wonder who sponsored this.“
Looking next at a key bike racing/ fight scene as two characters race through a city, seemingly at supersonic speeds, co-host Sam Gorski remarks “This part is very crazy ,” with Allen, bewildered, asking, “What am I even watching?” As for how most of the sequence was captured, Gorski sums up the filmmaking methods by saying: “Obviously, they’re doing a ton of green screens, a lot of 3D models, and that’s basically about it.“
What Torque’s Ridiculousness Meant For The Film
The Fast & Furious Knock-Off Wasn’t A Success
The Fast and the Furious would end up spawning a successful franchise that continues to this day, with Fast & Furious 11 now in the works. Torque, however, wouldn’t end up experiencing this same level of success. The action flick currently sports a lackluster 22% on Rotten Tomatoes, with the audience score an improvement – though still disappointing – at 41%. The film was largely criticized for its sheer absurdity and lack of any strong storytelling or characters.
The over-the-top action sequences didn’t help to save Torque at the box office either. Made on an estimated budget of $40 million, the film ended up grossing only $46.5 million at the worldwide box office, making it a failure. Using the standard Hollywood rule of thumb, the movie could have been looking at a break-even point as high as $100 million, a goal it clearly fell far short of. With such a poor result, no sequel was put into the works.
Kahn was and continues to be a prominent music video director and has directed videos for figures like Backstreet Boys, Kelly Clarkson, Blink 182, Britney Spears, and Taylor Swift.
Our Take On Torque
Why Fast & Furious Succeeded Where Torque Failed
Torque and the earlier Fast & Furious movies do have a lot in common stylistically, and both are bold, loud, and kind of silly. While the latter franchise does arguably feature more compelling and coherent action sequences, which gives it an edge, it’s not the action alone that helped it succeed over Torque.
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Torque‘s Key Figures |
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Rotten Tomatoes Critics Score |
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score |
Metacritic Score |
Metacritic User Score |
Worldwide Box Office |
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22% |
41% |
41/100 |
4.8/10 |
$46.5 million |
One key reason why Fast & Furious has become a massive franchise is because of its memorable characters, which include the likes of Dom (Vin Diesel), Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), and Brian (Paul Walker). These characters and others, and the actors who portrayed them, are the backbone of the franchise, and the movies know this, featuring a sense of sentimentality and earnestness that, though often mocked, helps to differentiate Fast & Furious from other forgettable action fare like Torque.
Source: Corridor Crew
