Lonnie "Lucky Man" Johnson is an veteran drag racer and head honcho of his race team that's sponsored by FastCo Oil. Their business man Phil Adamson thinks only of the sponsorships than winning and when Lonnie's hotrod explodes Phil isn't too happy. Seeing that Lonnie is the one who draws the crowds, Phil gets Lonnie to take over Bill "The Kid" Broker's car, which doesn't go down to well with Bill. Their rival team led by Gary " The Blacksmith" Black would like the chance to beat Lonnie and things do heat up when Adamson decides he wants to make some changes.
When you think of the name David Cronenberg, does drag racing come straight to mind? Most definitely not, but on this occasion he has churned out a rather normal, exploitation flick on the sport. You don't always associated the word normal to his name, but even though its an entertaining piece, it's really nothing much out of the ordinary. That's probably the best reason why it flies under radar, well it won't escape the fans' of the director's work, though. Cronenberg's excursion into "Fast Company" is pretty much a low-budgeted film that's marketed for a more mainstream audience. I didn't really know about this film that pretty much came out of the blue when I found out it was directed by Cronenberg. So I've been itching to get my hands on it and I gladly came across the 2 disc special edition release at my local library. I'm no revhead fan, but I couldn't help but get drawn into the thick of the action thanks largely to Mark Irwin's cinematography. I actually didn't mind this little picture, but you still call it a rather a hot and cold detour. The film looked great with it's semi-documentary style, where there were a lot of creative angel shots that caught the action superbly and the beautiful Canadian landscape that fills the frame also leaves a mark in your mind. Cronenberg manages to stage the set-pieces involving the dragsters quite well, as you watch some burning rubber along with the crowd. It's just like the real deal! But when it wasn't focusing on the racing it becomes the usual the good guys v bad guys theme, where it becomes morally hounded and predictable. You feel the tension between the teams and the plot shows the manipulative nature of sponsorship deals taking over the show. But the drama element runs low on fuel. It just feels leaden with a simple script that doesn't really seem to go anywhere with some underwritten plot details, but still there's a nice amount of sharp humour evident. The film's conclusion might be exciting, but still it's rather illogical you could say. The howling rock soundtrack that surrounds the film felt overly tacky and got a bit repetitious. The performances from the main two leads lifts most of the acting out of the standard mould. William Smith and John Saxon make the most out of their character's material. Saxon is a great character actor and he steals the film as the slimly sponsor adviser Phil Adamson. Smith adds a steady head to the veteran driver Lonnie Johnson. Also in the supporting roles is the gorgeous Claudia Jennings as Lonnie's love interest Sammy, Nicholas Campbell plays the up and coming youngster Bill Broker and Cedric Smith plays the competition Gary 'The Blacksmith' Black. There's definitely a lot of stunning gals in this picture. Well, cars and girls go down rather nicely don't they.
Rather a middling affair that has it's perks. When it's close to the action that's when it hits it's strides by making you feel like you're there. It's nothing overly showy, but it's a mildly entertaining romp for the undemanding.
