Torque

The Fast and the Furious... WITH MOTORCYCLES!

Torque is a 2004 action film directed by Joseph Kahn. Martin Henderson plays Badass Biker Cary Ford. 6 months prior to the events of the film, Henry James (Matt Schulze), the leader of a biker gang called the Hellions requested he look after some bikes. When trying to move them, however, Ford found crystal meth in the fuel tanks. Ford hid the bikes and fled to Thailand, where has has been for six months, leading the police to believe he is a drug dealer and Henry to believe he stole his bikes. Now Ford's returned to the states to reconcile with his girlfriend Shane (Monet Mazur). Henry's still pissed, so he frames Ford for the murder of the younger brother of Trey (Ice Cube), the leader of a rival biker gang called the Reapers. Motorcycles chases ensue...

Do not watch this movie if you know absolutely anything about motorcycles or if you expect stunts, action and plot developments anywhere near the realm of physical plausibility. If you remember your MST3K Mantra or drink a few beers or smoke some weed beforehand, however, you might enjoy it.

This video should tell you everything you need to know about it.

Tropes used in Torque include:

• All Bikers Are Hells Angels: And how!
• Badass Biker: Who would have thought that this movie would bear this trope?
• Ballroom Blitz
• Biker Babe: Or this?
• Captain Ersatz: "Man, Tom Cruise sure did look badass doing those motorcycle stunts in that Mission: Impossible movie. Martin Henderson looks sort of like a scruffy Tom Cruise, let's cast him and do a lot of the same sort of Badass Shots that Cruise did in MI."
• Car Cushion
• Chase Scene
• Cool Bike: Or this one?
• Creator Killer/Star-Derailing Role: Nearly everybody involved saw their careers ruined, from lead actor Martin Henderson (who was an up-and-coming star at that point) to director Joseph Kahn (whom it was thought was the next Michael Bay). The only ones to make it out in one piece were producer Neal Moritz and Ice Cube, and even the latter has developed a Rated "G" for Gangsta reputation since.
• Designated Girl Fight: Three guesses as to whether Shane and Henry's black leather-clad girlfriend engage in a uproariously unrealistic duel with their bikes.
• Groin Attack
• Guilty Pleasure
• Jive Turkey: Ice Cube is in this movie, and he's the leader of an African American biker gang.
• Just Train Wrong: In the train scene, the train does not have its headlights on, which is a violation of Railroad Safety Regulations.
• Karmic Death: Luther is hung with a chain- the same method he used to kill Junior, Trey even Lampshades this by saying "Ain't that ironic"?
• Made of Iron: Coming off a Y2K at 400+ km/h with no helmet and surviving with NO injuries? What's unrealistic about that?
• Nitro Boost
• Product Placement: Check out the Pepsi and Mountain Dew signs during the Designated Girl Fight.
• Racing the Train: Happens when the chase between Trey and Ford is taken from top of a train to the front of it.
• Railroad Tracks of Doom
• Ramprovisation
• Recycled in Space: See above.
• Rule of Cool
• Rule of Fun: The most likely justification for the overwhelming unrealisticity.
• Shout-Out: At one point The Fast and the Furious is directly referenced. Ford borrows Vin Diesel's line, "I live my life a quarter-mile at a time." To which Shane replies, "That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard."
  • Much like the similarly disparaging Shout-Out at Star Wars in Laserblast, became rather Hilarious in Hindsight considering that no one was exactly lining up to make Torque 2: Overtorqued.
• Stealth Parody: According to Joseph Kahn himself and to recent interviews with Adam Scott (who plays an FBI agent), the movie was mostly intentional in its ridiculousness. Kahn assumes 75% of the movie he wanted to make was in the final effort and that the lack of physics and the general over-the-top nature was entirely intended.
• Vapor Trail: Probably one of the most ridiculous examples ever shown in film. The fire can chase down a bike said to have a top-speed of 200 mph.
• Wrench Wench: Shane.
• You Fail Logic Forever
• You Fail Physics Forever