For most of the nearly two-hour running time A quick movement feels trapped in the neutral position. Director/writer Kelly Blatz (Fear the walking dead) doesn’t seem to want to take any interesting or risky detours with this racing film.

Blatz dutifully plays all the greatest hits of a conventional sports movie, but if reality shows about racing are more exciting, there’s a problem.

KJ Apa (Riverdale) plays Wes, a young loner who feels the need… the need for speed. His recent street racing outing landed him in prison for six months. After his release, Wes decides to finally meet his father Dean Miller (Eric Dane, Bad Boys: Ride or Die), a professional racing driver whose glory days are long behind him.

Wes doesn’t want time for the long overdue father-son bond. Instead, he wants Dean’s help to become a racer… like his father before him. Relieved not to have to deal with annoying obligations, Dean agrees to train Wes. And even gets him a job in the motorcycle workshop of his mentor Abel (Edward James Olmos, Mayans MC).

Of course, Wes also makes good friends with local waitress Camila (Maia Reficco, Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin). Even for a racing/sports movie, the instant connection between Wes and Camila is not believable. Especially since Wes doesn’t seem to own a shirt that isn’t full of holes, nor does he have the option to borrow or buy one. Dean isn’t thrilled about this budding relationship, as he sees serious relationships as dream killers.

Instead of a racing rival, Blatz chooses Dean as Wes’ main opponent. This is tough, because it’s clear from the start that Dean is a loser. Wes can only get so much life advice from this guy. Unless Wes needs some tips on how to cure a hangover. At least Dean can give useful tips when it comes to navigating a race track.

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Blatz shoots the racing scenes well. There are some nice perspectives from behind the wheel and some good close-ups of fast-paced racing on a race track. Unfortunately, Blatz also seems to see this as a strength and stretches each racing scene to the point where it becomes boring and hopelessly repetitive.

That’s why Vin Diesel and the crew quickly transitioned the Fast and Furious series to street racing with the Avengers on wheels. A quick movement Six or seven races with multiple laps on the track cannot be made more interesting than the last one.

The performances are solid. Olmos delivers his scenes with such presence that it elevates them. Apa is good at making mediocre material into a convincing lead. Dane has one scene where the script just lets him down, and he makes it worse by overdoing it dramatically. There’s a little twist with Camila that doesn’t exactly do Reficco any favors either. Again, it’s more the script than the casting.

Blatz had to spend less time on rounds and more on the four main actors. That’s the advantage of having such an intimate cast. There’s more time to develop the characters and their bonds with each other.

A quick movement doesn’t do enough to set itself apart from a slew of more thrilling, exciting and gripping sports racing movies. It needed a burst of laughter that Blatz doesn’t even bother to push through for a second.

Rating: 5 out of 10

Photo credit: Amazon Studios

“One Fast Move” is now available on Amazon Prime.

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