Burnout

There is a good film below the surface in this Crown International release. But alas Burnout fails to deliver ultimately. Its main problem I would say is that there is so little material that the run-time has been padded out with an awful lot of real footage from the racing circuit. This stuff lends the film a bit of atmosphere to a certain extent but it definitely is over-used. The main feeling is that Crown cobbled this one together quickly and cheaply with a minimum of film-making and a considerable amount of stock footage to bring it up to an acceptable running time.

The story focuses on a teenager who looks to be not a day under thirty, as he tries to become a drag racing driver. Add in some drama pertaining to his rich, disappointed father and you have the bare bones of a narrative. There's just not really enough on screen to get involved with here and it probably works best as a nuts and bolts look at the goings on at a drag racing circuit in the 70's; beyond that its honestly slim pickings at best.