'Vehicle 19' Review: 'Fast & Furious 6' Star Paul Walker is a Disappointment, Critics Say [TRAILER]
Paul Walker stars in a new action film Vehicle 19 but unlike the Fast and the Furious installments, this one is a disappointment, according to critics.
"Mr. Walker and Naima McLean, who plays the prosecutor, show signs of making an appealing pairing," The New York Times said on Thursday. "But Mukunda Michael Dewil, the writer and director, chooses a different road, and the result is a drawn-out chase."
Walker, who plays Michael Woods, is the film's protagonist and hero. After he arrives in South Africa, he finds himself in the wrong rental car. The car not only has a gun in it, but also a woman tied up in the trunk. The victim, played by Rachel Shabangu, is a journalist who discovered a human trafficking plan that involves even the chief of police.
Woods was just released from jail and hopes to rekindle with his ex-wife, but eventually ends up helping the woman. Both of them are then chased by the entire police force.
While the plot is intriguing, critics don't feel the movie delivers the action that it could have.
"Vehicle 19 sets up a fascinating conceit for itself, and then loses interest in delivering on it. It just wants to get to the cool car chase, but by the time it does, we've stopped caring," Vulture wrote Friday.
Other critics are more involved in discussing Walker's acting skills.
"The actor, who displays all the range of a carburetor in the F&F franchise, is forced to really act here. It's a task he faces with admirable dedication, if not unqualified success," The New York Daily News said on Thursday.
The newspaper later referenced Walker's Fast and the Furious co-star Vin Diesel, saying, "Still, between his uneven performance and the sloppily shot car chases, one can't help wishing Diesel would show up once this thing starts to run out of gas."
Other critics were a tad bit more brutal in regards to Walker's perfromance. Variety said on Thursday that the film's ability to "stay even modestly involving is a testament to Walker." The actor will "never" win an award for his acting, according to the report, but he has grown "into a more comfortable, charismatic screen presence over time."
"Especially as his once-gleaming baby-faced looks have given way to a weary, leathery gruffness," the review added.
Vehicle 19 hit U.S. theaters Friday.
