The score sounds so much like Thomas Newman wrote it that I would have been willing to bet my bottom dollar he did. It's a good job I'm not a betting man.
Anthony Hopkins is... the world's fastest Indian. Nah, not really. Anthony Hopkins is Burt Munro, the real-life man who rode the world's fastest Indian (a motorbike) and set the land speed world record (sub-1000cc class) at the Bonneville Salt Flats in 1967 - a record which still stands today.
'The World's Fastest Indian (2005)' tells the mostly true story of how Burt went from setting smaller records in New Zealand to setting the record in the USA, charting his journey as a series of pseudo vignettes that see him winning over a wide variety of characters with his rustic charm and general nice nature. That's actually quite a good way to describe the film itself: nice. It's just a pleasant amble from one side of the globe to the other, a story in which a gentle man achieves his life's dream while never really encountering opposition that has lasting consequences. The worst thing that happens to Burt on his odyssey across the ocean is that he gets $10 dollars stolen from him; everything else works out just fine with minimal effort from, well, anyone really. The people he meets are are plain decent, willing to help out a stranger seemingly simply because he does the bare minimum and treats them with respect. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but the lack of conflict does make for a fairly passive viewing experience that is sorely missing any real sense of tension. The piece is also about half an hour too long, as it feels kind of like it puts its purpose on pause for a full hour while its protagonist trucks his way across North America. It's not as if this segment is particularly boring, but it's way too baggy. Things definitely get more focused as the flick heads into its finale, which focuses on the motorcycle action we all came to see in the first place. The ending is satisfying, even if its events are a foregone conclusion, and it goes a long way in making the overall experience as amicable as it is. As does Anthony Hopkins, who's fairly good throughout despite struggling to pull off the required accent (it's half West Country English, half generic Australian and no genuine New Zealand). Overall, this is a decent yet inconsequential affair that's enjoyable enough for what it is but would have been better if it had been tightened up considerably. It's a nice, inoffensive movie that's just as easy to watch as it is to forget. Sometimes, that's all you want from your evening entertainment.
P. S. There's a segment which introduces a trans (or, at least, trans-coded) character and it made me immediately put my guard up. After all, surely a film from 2005 is going to feature some inappropriate jokes about such things? To my surprise, nothing like that happens. Although there are one or two unfortunate moments, the movie actually does a good job with its representation and that's worth praising.
P. P. S. I seriously don't think I'll ever recover from the fact that Thomas Newman did not write the score for this.
Anthony Hopkins is... the world's fastest Indian. Nah, not really. Anthony Hopkins is Burt Munro, the real-life man who rode the world's fastest Indian (a motorbike) and set the land speed world record (sub-1000cc class) at the Bonneville Salt Flats in 1967 - a record which still stands today.
'The World's Fastest Indian (2005)' tells the mostly true story of how Burt went from setting smaller records in New Zealand to setting the record in the USA, charting his journey as a series of pseudo vignettes that see him winning over a wide variety of characters with his rustic charm and general nice nature. That's actually quite a good way to describe the film itself: nice. It's just a pleasant amble from one side of the globe to the other, a story in which a gentle man achieves his life's dream while never really encountering opposition that has lasting consequences. The worst thing that happens to Burt on his odyssey across the ocean is that he gets $10 dollars stolen from him; everything else works out just fine with minimal effort from, well, anyone really. The people he meets are are plain decent, willing to help out a stranger seemingly simply because he does the bare minimum and treats them with respect. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but the lack of conflict does make for a fairly passive viewing experience that is sorely missing any real sense of tension. The piece is also about half an hour too long, as it feels kind of like it puts its purpose on pause for a full hour while its protagonist trucks his way across North America. It's not as if this segment is particularly boring, but it's way too baggy. Things definitely get more focused as the flick heads into its finale, which focuses on the motorcycle action we all came to see in the first place. The ending is satisfying, even if its events are a foregone conclusion, and it goes a long way in making the overall experience as amicable as it is. As does Anthony Hopkins, who's fairly good throughout despite struggling to pull off the required accent (it's half West Country English, half generic Australian and no genuine New Zealand). Overall, this is a decent yet inconsequential affair that's enjoyable enough for what it is but would have been better if it had been tightened up considerably. It's a nice, inoffensive movie that's just as easy to watch as it is to forget. Sometimes, that's all you want from your evening entertainment.
P. S. There's a segment which introduces a trans (or, at least, trans-coded) character and it made me immediately put my guard up. After all, surely a film from 2005 is going to feature some inappropriate jokes about such things? To my surprise, nothing like that happens. Although there are one or two unfortunate moments, the movie actually does a good job with its representation and that's worth praising.
P. P. S. I seriously don't think I'll ever recover from the fact that Thomas Newman did not write the score for this.