There are many films considered to be ahead of its time, but it is difficult to imagine that some of them would gain such reputation as quickly as in the case The Chase, 1994 action comedy written and directed by Adam Rifkin. This happened less because of author being particularly visionary or prophetic, and more because of Life Imitating Art incident that occurred roughly three months after the premiere.
The plot begins in gas station in Newport Beach, where the main character, escaped convict Jack Hammond (played by Charlie Sheen), stops to buy cigarettes and fill up the tank in the stolen vehicle. By a very unfortunate set of circumstances, the same gas station is visited by two policemen who quickly recognise Jack who is forced to act quickly in order to evade capture. He takes Natalie Voss (played by Kristy Swanson), young woman who came to buy magazines, as hostage and takes possession of her BMW. He tries to drive southwards to Mexico, but the car is followed by number of police vehicles and television news helicopters, especially when it is revealed that Natalie happens to be daughter of Dalton Voss (played by Ray Wise), tycoon with political ambitions. As the media circus develops around them, Jack and Natalie, despite unusual circumstances, find that they are attracted to each other.
For most people watching this film or at least those who watched it in 1994, it is almost impossible to think about this film without any reference to the case of O.J. Simpson, most notably his spectacular attempt to flee from police on June 17th 1994, which was extensively covered by television cameras and news programmes in real time. Many would later get wrong but reasonable impression that The Chase was something like Hollywood’s first comment on that sad saga. In reality, the film was released into cinema roughly three months before the murders. Its author Alan Rifkin used rather simple idea of a chase film that happens in real time. Simplicity was pursued through rather weak plot and archetypal characterisations of Jack as innocent man on the run and Natalie as spoiled rich girl who gradually sees the errors of her ways. Rifkin’s true inspiration was in anti-establishment chase films of 1970s where the rebellious protagonists used to fight corrupt and oppressive forces of the law. Yet, Rifkin also spiced up the film with some sort of satire on 1990s television industry ruthlessly exploiting crime and misery in search of ratings. However, for that concept to work, The Chase was supposed to be a comedy. Rifkin, unfortunately, fails to deliver much of humour, often resorting to some rather weak and unoriginal gags (like the one involving vomiting) or compensating lack of quality laughs with action. Subplot about pursuing police car being driven by two policemen (played by Josh Mostel and rock musician Henry Rollins in his feature film debut) and accompanied by crew of COPS-like documentary film, isn’t properly explored nor resolved in satisfactory fashion. Certain scenes, like Jack and Natalie having sex while being pursued, add too much surrealism for this film to be taken seriously, while at the same time complicating what was supposed to be rather simple story. The Chase, which features huge number of cameos that include pornographic actor Ron Jeremy and Red Hot Chilli Peppers member Anthony Kiedis and Flea, is made watchable only through solid work of Charlie Sheen and Kristy Swanson, who are forced to play almost entire film in the car and who develop decent chemistry. Yet, this isn’t enough to make this film recommendable to viewers other than those interested in curios instances of Hollywood predicting very near future.
RATING: 4/10 (+)
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