Collide (2016)

Director: Eran Creevy

Starring: Nicholas Hoult, Felicity Jones, Anthony Hopkins

An American backpacker gets involved with a ring of drug smugglers as their driver, though he winds up on the run from his employers across Cologne high-speed Autobahn.

‘Collide’ was a box office flop. Critics didn’t like it. There must be something wrong with me then, because I enjoyed it. I thought it was very entertaining.

Nicholas Hoult stars as the film’s protagonist, Casey, who falls in love with Juliette (Felicity Jones) working in a bar. They are both American now working and living in Germany. The film quickly sets up the love interest and then movies ahead equally quickly establishing them as a loving couple. It is then revealed Juliette needs a kidney transplant and for various reasons she can’t get one. So Casey suggests they move back to American for the transplant.

They need money. Casey therefore decides to go back to his previous job as drug trafficker. His employer, Geran (Ben Kingsley) commissions him to steal a truck full of drugs from his partner, Hagen (Anthony Hopkins). It’s never really clear whether Geran is actually a good guy or a bad guy. Bad in the sense of drug trafficker, yes, but his intentions seem good as he is helpful towards Casey and Juliette.

Hagen clearly is the antagonist, together with his henchmen. Hopkins is a brilliant actor and was good, as usual. Being such a short film, ‘Collide’ is fast-paced and packs solid action pieces within a short space of time. The action sequences are fantastic, with great stunts. (Some people unfairly compare ‘Collide’ to ‘The Fast and the Furious’, but the movies are nothing alike.)

I also really enjoyed the soundtrack, and the twist towards the end. My main criticism is the fact there was no real pay-off for Hagen. SPOILER: the last time we see him, is when he is rushed from a coffee shop to his car when the police opens fire on the store. The next we see a newspaper article branding him as a druglord. What, they didn’t even show him being captured? Or killed? Taken into custody? Anything…other than just disappearing so quietly…

Apart from that, ‘Collide’ was a fun, exciting movie.

Would I watch it again? Yes.