Torque Information

Torque is a 2004 action movie about underground motorcycle gangs and racers. The film stars Martin Henderson, Ice Cube, Monet Mazur, Jaime Pressly, Will Yun Lee, Jay Hernandez, Max Beesley, Fredro Starr, and Christina Milian. Joseph Kahn, in his feature film debut, directed this movie written by Matt Johnson and produced by Neal H. Moritz, who is known for producing The Fast and the Furious film series.

Plot

When biker Cary Ford (Martin Henderson) finds himself in possession of several drug-filled motorcycles, he knows he's in trouble. So he locks up the bikes, skips town and abandons his girlfriend Shane (Monet Mazur), leaving her to face the cops. Now Ford is home to clear his name, but Henry (Matt Schulze), the leader of the biker gang The Hellions, wants his drugs back. So he frames Ford for the death of Junior (Fredro Starr), younger brother of kingpin Trey (Ice Cube), the leader of the gang The Reapers. Meanwhile, FBI Agents McPherson (Adam Scott) and Henderson (Justina Machado) are trying to find the wanted Ford for his ties with the death of Junior.

Cast

• Martin Henderson as Cary Ford, the protagonist who is framed for murder
• Ice Cube as Trey, leader of The Reapers
• Monet Mazur as Shane, Ford's longtime girlfriend
• Adam Scott as FBI Agent McPherson
• Matt Schulze as Henry James, leader of the biker gang, The Hellions
• Will Yun Lee as Val, friend of Ford
• Jaime Pressly as China, girlfriend of Henry James
• Max Beesley as Luther, member of The Hellions
• Christina Milian as Nina, Val's new fling and new friend of Ford
• Jay Hernandez as Dalton, friend of Ford
• Faizon Love as Sonny, member of The Reapers, drives a black Ford Excursion
• Fredro Starr as Junior Wallace, younger brother of Trey who is murdered
• Justina Machado as FBI Agent Henderson, partners with FBI Agent McPherson
• Hayden Mcfarland as Ko

Cameos

Jesse James of West Coast Choppers and Monster Garage makes a cameo appearance in the scene where Ford and Shane are talking inside the tent. Two of his custom choppers are used later in the movie as the bikes Henry James' drugs are stored in.

Featured motorcycles

• Honda VTR 1000 SP1 (aka RC51)
• Aprilia RSV Mille (Ford's)
• Honda CBR 954 RR
• Triumph Daytona 600 TT
• Triumph Daytona 955i
• MTT Y2K
• Honda CBR's
• Harleys
• Kawasaki 250 Ninja
• Kawasaki ZX-7R
• Suzuki GSXR's

Production

Soundtrack

Track listing

The Original Score was done by Trevor Rabin.

Similarities to The Fast and the Furious

The film has been called "The Fast and the Furious on Motorcycles", referring to the use of many of the same thematic elements between the two films. The film's director Joseph Kahn said his intention was to make a "piss take" version of the Fast and Furious franchise, even though both movies were produced by Neal H. Moritz.

Torque specifically references The Fast and the Furious at one point, taking a line directly from the film. Henderson's character Ford borrows Vin Diesel's line, "I live my life a quarter-mile at a time." To which Shane (Monet Mazur) replies, "That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard."

When Ford rides past the road sign at the start of the film it spins and reads "cars suck".

Release

Box office

The film opened at #3 at the U.S. Box office raking in $9,970,557 USD in its first opening weekend. The movie's theatrical run took in a total of $21,215,059 in the United States and worldwide $46,546,197, against a production budget of approximately $40,000,000.

Reception

Torque received mostly negative reviews, earning a score of 22% on Rotten Tomatoes based on reviews from 113 critics. Rotten Tomatoes' consensus for the movie is that the film is "Silly and noisy ... stylish fun for the MTV crowd."

Awards

Torque was nominated for several World Stunt Awards, including Best Specialty Stunt and Best Overall Stunt by a Stunt Man.

Home media

Torque was released on DVD and VHS on May 18, 2004. There are no plans for it to be released on Blu-ray.