Rapid Response
1.5/4
Rated PG-13 for Some Intense Crash Sequences
Many people are wary of documentaries. I think the thinking goes like this: talking heads - plot = boring college lecture. Or they just amount to pontificating by Michael Moore or someone like him. In some cases I suppose that's true, but not always. Documentaries can be just as funny, sensational, outrageous and heart pounding as any traditional narrative film. If you recall, I pegged "They Shall Not Grow Old" as the best film of 2018. It isn't alone. Documentaries like "Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport," "Waco: The Rules of Engagement," and "Meru" are all excellent films. I'm a huge Alex Gibney fan (he directed "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room" and "The Armstrong Lie" and won an Oscar for his searing and disturbing "Taxi to the Dark Side"). Documentaries are a form of storytelling just like any other. It's all in how they are made.
But just as there are lousy fictional films ("Night is Short, Walk On Girl" comes to mind...), there are lousy documentaries. "Rapid Response" is one of those films. It brings nothing to the table and tells us little any substance that we don't already know (even for someone who doesn't care one bit about Formula One racing) or couldn't figure out by using common sense.
Steven Olvey has been Formula One racing fan since he was a kid. When he saw his first live race, his favorite driver was killed. He wanted to go into racing, but his father convinced him to go to medical school. Through blind luck, he ended up being a doctor to the racers. The problem was the racers kept dying. So, together with Terry Trammell, he improved cars and conditions at the tracks and revolutionized the entire auto racing industry.
That's pretty much all I got from this movie. Like, the film has nothing else to offer except some ugly car crashes that made me jolt a few times. The film has a formula: There is an ugly car wreck, Olvey sees a problem, Olvey fixes a problem. Repeat for 90 minutes and the movie is over. That's it. I learned what happened and what the solution was, but what I missed was the process. How was it fixed? What happened that led to the solution's creation? For example, there is an ugly crash in the latter half of the film in which a car flips over the wall, killing the driver, and led to a new harness to prevent the injury that killed him. How was this brace created? The movie doesn't say. For all I know, Olvey and Trammell pulled it out of thin air.
I have no doubts about the intelligence, love for racing and the medical capabilities of Steven Olvey, but he is not the most charismatic individual. There's little energy or expressiveness when he speaks to the unseen interviewer, which makes him a rather dull individual. Terry Trammell is more engaging, especially when he and racer Tony Kanann talk about his rehabilitation after an injury (also not mentioned is how he came up with the brace that allowed Kanann's wrist to heal while still allowing free range of motion. Or how it even works.). That sequence is amusing.
More than anything, "Rapid Response" lacks a strong human interest. The film never gives us a reason to care about these people because we know so little about them. Obviously we care about the drivers and want them to be safe, but that's human nature. Maybe the quest from turning Formula One from the Wild West to the relatively safe sport that it is today just isn't appropriate for a documentary. Maybe it would have worked better as a traditional narrative film (although considering the lack of any potential audience or story, maybe not).
"Rapid Response" is just as bland as its title. It moves fast enough and contains enough car crashes to prevent boredom, but a documentary on such an intriguing subject has to offer more than this. I suppose it will satisfy die hard fans of Formula One, but only in the same way that the MCU plays to comic book fans: it packages what they already know to people predisposed to liking it. I am not a Formula One fan, so I guess that's why it didn't resonate with me. I wanted more information about how this all happened. More detail. It is ironic that "Rush," Ron Howard's underrated narrative film about Formula One provided all of these things. The filmmakers needed to dig deeper into their subject to make this movie. All they have given us is cinematic junk food. It may go down easy, but it's not nutritious for the mind or the spirit. Nor is it worth anyone's time.
Rated PG-13 for Some Intense Crash Sequences
Many people are wary of documentaries. I think the thinking goes like this: talking heads - plot = boring college lecture. Or they just amount to pontificating by Michael Moore or someone like him. In some cases I suppose that's true, but not always. Documentaries can be just as funny, sensational, outrageous and heart pounding as any traditional narrative film. If you recall, I pegged "They Shall Not Grow Old" as the best film of 2018. It isn't alone. Documentaries like "Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport," "Waco: The Rules of Engagement," and "Meru" are all excellent films. I'm a huge Alex Gibney fan (he directed "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room" and "The Armstrong Lie" and won an Oscar for his searing and disturbing "Taxi to the Dark Side"). Documentaries are a form of storytelling just like any other. It's all in how they are made.
But just as there are lousy fictional films ("Night is Short, Walk On Girl" comes to mind...), there are lousy documentaries. "Rapid Response" is one of those films. It brings nothing to the table and tells us little any substance that we don't already know (even for someone who doesn't care one bit about Formula One racing) or couldn't figure out by using common sense.
Steven Olvey has been Formula One racing fan since he was a kid. When he saw his first live race, his favorite driver was killed. He wanted to go into racing, but his father convinced him to go to medical school. Through blind luck, he ended up being a doctor to the racers. The problem was the racers kept dying. So, together with Terry Trammell, he improved cars and conditions at the tracks and revolutionized the entire auto racing industry.
That's pretty much all I got from this movie. Like, the film has nothing else to offer except some ugly car crashes that made me jolt a few times. The film has a formula: There is an ugly car wreck, Olvey sees a problem, Olvey fixes a problem. Repeat for 90 minutes and the movie is over. That's it. I learned what happened and what the solution was, but what I missed was the process. How was it fixed? What happened that led to the solution's creation? For example, there is an ugly crash in the latter half of the film in which a car flips over the wall, killing the driver, and led to a new harness to prevent the injury that killed him. How was this brace created? The movie doesn't say. For all I know, Olvey and Trammell pulled it out of thin air.
I have no doubts about the intelligence, love for racing and the medical capabilities of Steven Olvey, but he is not the most charismatic individual. There's little energy or expressiveness when he speaks to the unseen interviewer, which makes him a rather dull individual. Terry Trammell is more engaging, especially when he and racer Tony Kanann talk about his rehabilitation after an injury (also not mentioned is how he came up with the brace that allowed Kanann's wrist to heal while still allowing free range of motion. Or how it even works.). That sequence is amusing.
More than anything, "Rapid Response" lacks a strong human interest. The film never gives us a reason to care about these people because we know so little about them. Obviously we care about the drivers and want them to be safe, but that's human nature. Maybe the quest from turning Formula One from the Wild West to the relatively safe sport that it is today just isn't appropriate for a documentary. Maybe it would have worked better as a traditional narrative film (although considering the lack of any potential audience or story, maybe not).
"Rapid Response" is just as bland as its title. It moves fast enough and contains enough car crashes to prevent boredom, but a documentary on such an intriguing subject has to offer more than this. I suppose it will satisfy die hard fans of Formula One, but only in the same way that the MCU plays to comic book fans: it packages what they already know to people predisposed to liking it. I am not a Formula One fan, so I guess that's why it didn't resonate with me. I wanted more information about how this all happened. More detail. It is ironic that "Rush," Ron Howard's underrated narrative film about Formula One provided all of these things. The filmmakers needed to dig deeper into their subject to make this movie. All they have given us is cinematic junk food. It may go down easy, but it's not nutritious for the mind or the spirit. Nor is it worth anyone's time.
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