InCinemas SG

Opening Date

28 Jun 2018

Rating

PG

Runtime

105 mins

Language

Japanese with English & Chinese subtitles

Genre

Action

Director

Eiichiro Hasumi

Cast

Mackenyu Arata, Masahiro Higashide, Aoi Morikawa, Takumi Kitamura, Keita Machida, Kaname Jun, Kotaro Yoshida

Synopsis

Two brothers Naozumi (Mackenyu Arata 新田真剑佑) and Atsuhiro Hiyama (Masahiro Higashide 东出昌大) are the racer and chief mechanic of SPICA Racing Factory respectively. Aiming for the World Rally Championship, Naozumi has to beat his rival Akira Shinkai (Takumi Kitamura北村匠海) at the Seiko Cup Rally Series (SCRS), in order to qualify for it. Desperate to win, Naozumi drives recklessly, often crashing his car, much to Atsuhiro's dissent. Naozumi believes that speed is all it takes to win, but to Atsuhiro, it is more than that. Their conflict in opinions causes their relationship to sour. Will the brothers work through their differences to win the ultimate race?

Reviews

By Say Peng 28 Jun 2018

It’s difficult to make a truly original racing film, but not as hard to simply make an entertaining one, which is what commercial director Eiichirō Hasumi achieves with his latest outing, Over Drive.

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Many auto racing films have been made before, from Days of Thunder to Initial D to Rush to, of course, Fast and Furious. The terrain has been well travelled. It’s difficult to make a truly original racing film, but not as hard to simply make an entertaining one, which is what commercial director Eiichirō Hasumi achieves with his latest outing, Over Drive, which is also a homage to the sport of rally racing and to the mechanics working tirelessly behind the scenes while the driver basks in the glory.

The film stars Mackenyu Arata (Pacific Rim Uprising) and Masahiro Higashide (Death Note: Light Up The World) as two brothers at loggerheads with each other. Arata plays Naozumi Hiyama, an ace but hot-headed driver under Spica Racing Factory; while Higashide plays Atsuhiro Hiyama, a chief mechanic, in charge of ensuring that his younger brother’s car is in tip top battle-ready condition.

Standing between Naozumi and the first prize at the Seiko Cup Rally Series, which qualifies the winner to compete at the World Rally Championship, is Akira Shinkai, played by Takumi Kitamura, a fellow ace driver from rival team Sigma. Shinkai is diametrically, if rather clichely, the opposite of Naozumi. He is calm, clean-cut, and collaborative. Naozumi, meanwhile, shirks his brother’s advice to be less reckless, is unappreciative of his team’s efforts, and drives however he wants. We all know where this will inevitably lead.

Anchoring the film is the fraught relationship between the two brothers, which is the film’s main strength. Through flashbacks, we learn the origin of their conflict and find out what motivates Naozumi to drive as fast as he can, even if it puts him in danger. What else can it be but love? When the brothers were younger, they were caught in a love triangle with a girl. A lie told to the girl by Naozumi leads to her to leave for the States, where she was gunned down. Naozumi blames himself for her death and strives to keep the promise he made to her. This narrative turn admittedly makes Naozumi, who has hitherto comes across as an egotistical hothead, a more sympathetic character, someone the audience can root for to win.

For a racing film, its racing sequences are nothing to boast about. They are passable, even generic. Nevertheless, racing films from Japan are few and far between for some reason, making this film a welcome entry to a genre that sometimes forget that underneath all that exhaust-pumping torque, a story with a heart is more important, which this film fortunately possesses.
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Over Drive
神速战车

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Over Drive神速战车

Opening Date

Rating

Runtime

Language

Genre

Director

Cast

Synopsis

Reviews

Trailers / Videos

Everything Else

Over Drive
神速战车