200 mph is an auto racing action film by The Asylum

The Asylum

The Asylum is an American film studio and distributor which focuses on producing low-budget, usually direct-to-video productions. The studio has produced titles that capitalize on productions by major studios; these titles have been dubbed "mockbusters" by the press.-History:The Asylum was founded...

, released direct-to-DVD

Direct-to-video

Direct-to-video is a term used to describe a film that has been released to the public on home video formats without being released in film theaters or broadcast on television...

 April 26, 2011. It is a mockbuster

Mockbuster

A mockbuster is a film created with the apparent intention of piggy-backing on the publicity of a major film with a similar title or theme and are often made with a low budget. Often these films are created to be released direct-to-video at the same time as the mainstream film reaches theaters or...

 of the 2011 Universal Pictures

Universal Pictures

-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...

 film Fast Five

Fast Five (film)

Fast Five is a 2011 action film written by Chris Morgan and directed by Justin Lin. It is the fifth installment in the Fast and the Furious film series. It was released first in Australia on April 20, 2011, and then in the United States on April 29, 2011...

.

Plot

When the older brother (Tommy Nash) he idolizes is run off the road by a ruthless drug dealer (Darren Thomas) during a nighttime street race known as Sepulveda Suicide, Rick Merchant (Jaz Martin) channels his grief into getting revenge behind the wheel. But to win, he'll need to modify his trusty 1988 Mazda RX-7

Mazda RX-7

Series 1 is commonly referred to as the "SA22C" from the first alphanumerics of the vehicle identification number. This series of RX-7 had exposed steel bumpers and a high-mounted indentation-located license plate, called by Werner Buhrer of Road & Track magazine a "Baroque depression."In 1980...

/Nissan 240sx

Nissan 240SX

The 240SX is a two-door compact car that was introduced to the North American market by Nissan in 1988 for the following model year. It replaced the outgoing 200SX model. Most of the 240SX were equipped with the 2.4-liter inline 4 engine . The KA24E being single over-head cam and KA24DE being dual...

(Zenki/Kouki, chase scenes) -- with help from a pretty mechanic Kelly (Hennely Jimenez) -- to get the maximum performance out of his machinery.

Cast

• Jaz Martin as Rick Merchant
• Hennely Jimenez as Kelly Garcia
• AnnaMaria DeMara as Claudia
• Darren Thomas as Kayce
• Zedrick Restauro as Phong
• Jared Kahn as Albert
• Paul Logan
  Paul Logan (actor)
  Paul Logan is an American born actor best known for his roles in low budget action films. But he is well known for his role as Glen Reiber in Days of Our Lives from 2001 to 2002.-Education:...
  
   as Officer Flynn
• Janet Tracy Keijser as Debbie Merchant
• Tommy Nash as Tom Merchant
• Sam Aaron as Lou
• Cleo Berry as Jake
• Makelaie Brown as Domingo Juarez
• Pason as Amber
• Sean Cory Cooper as an Attendant
• Meredith Thomas as Cherrie the Manager
• Mike Gaglio as Doctor Steven
• Chris Trouble Delfosse as Trouble, Domingo's lead thug

Production

During production, the Mazda RX-7 used as Rick Merchant's car was stolen. The RX-7 belonged to award-winning professional drifter Justin Pawlak. The vehicle was inside a 26 foot enclosed Aztex trailer, attached to Pawlak's Chevrolet 2500HD, altogether stolen in the middle of production.

Release

The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray April 26, 2011. It was also made available as video on demand on popular video websites including iTunes

ITunes

iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....

, Amazon

Amazon.com

Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...

, Zune

Zune

Zune is a digital media brand owned by Microsoft which includes a line of portable media players, a digital media player software for Windows machines, a music subscription service known as a 'Zune Music Pass', music and video streaming for the Xbox 360 via the Zune Software, music, TV and movie...

 (Also on Zune via Xbox Live

Xbox Live

Xbox Live is an online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft Corporation. It is currently the only online gaming service on consoles that charges users a fee to play multiplayer gaming. It was first made available to the Xbox system in 2002...

), and Blockbuster.

The film was released a month later, May 26, 2011, on Netflix

Netflix

Netflix, Inc., is an American provider of on-demand internet streaming media in the United States, Canada, and Latin America and flat rate DVD-by-mail in the United States. The company was established in 1997 and is headquartered in Los Gatos, California...

's instant streaming. In less than 24 hours, the film shot up within the top 5 of the Top 50 Most Popular streaming titles, peaking at the top 3 spot. The list is generated by unofficial Netflix companion website, Instant Watcher.Com.

Reception

The film has received mixed critic reviews, and mostly negative user reviews.

H. Perry Horton of Asylum films centric blog Committed gave the film a positive review, especially praising the performances of lead actors Jaz Martin and AnnaMaria DeMara. He also praises the film for having "a lot of heart for an action flick, more heart, in fact, than most of the F&F films, without sacrificing action."

Noel Anderson of Goof Roof also gave the film a positive review, praising the performances of actors Hennely Jimenez and Paul Logan

Paul Logan (actor)

Paul Logan is an American born actor best known for his roles in low budget action films. But he is well known for his role as Glen Reiber in Days of Our Lives from 2001 to 2002.-Education:...

, and states that "if you like furious displays of vehicular fury and strippers then this movie is a win win for you."

Christopher Armstead of Film Critics United describes the film as "tolerable" as far as films released by The Asylum

The Asylum

The Asylum is an American film studio and distributor which focuses on producing low-budget, usually direct-to-video productions. The studio has produced titles that capitalize on productions by major studios; these titles have been dubbed "mockbusters" by the press.-History:The Asylum was founded...

. He cites bad acting from the cast, but singles out the performances of actors Darren Thomas, Paul Logan

Paul Logan (actor)

Paul Logan is an American born actor best known for his roles in low budget action films. But he is well known for his role as Glen Reiber in Days of Our Lives from 2001 to 2002.-Education:...

, and Tommy Nash as exceptions. Armstead states that the movie "wasn’t all that bad all things considered. The car racing scenes, minus the CGI cutaways, were far better than I expected them to be."

Trevor Anderson of Movie Mavericks gave the film a mixed review. The negative aspects cited include unnecessary cursing and nudity, and the CGI. The review however, was mostly positive praising director Cole McKay for good acting from the actors and well-framed shots. The actors are especially praised including Zedrick Restauro and Jared Kahn, having added "a much needed spark to the group dynamic, particularly in the scene where they steal a car from an impound lot." The actor described as the one that "shines the brightest" is Tommy Nash, even though only being in the movie for the first fifteen minutes.

The film gained a user rating of 2.0/10 on IMDB due to poor special effects, plot, quality of production and much more.

Inaccuracy

One of the biggest complaints about this film, being that it's a film aimed at car enthusiasts, is the extremely poor continuity. At one point in the film a car changes make and model with no given explanation and is treated as if it is the same car, all the while being called the name of a third car (The car changes from FC Chassis RX7 to a Nissan 240SX during fast scenes). The car is also referred to as a MX-5, which is a Mazda Miata trim. The film also makes many general references to an estimated car capabilities, just like the 370Z in the beginning of the movie and the Skyline GT-R that it races against. Most of the cars' estimates are not true to actual car potential. (The FC RX7 is capable of 160+ with boost mods alone.) Also, the lead character states the RX7 is supercharged, which would defeat the purpose due to the rotary motors setup (High revving lower compression turbo motor in factory trim). The general negative response to this film can be seen by the statistics, which shown that 58.3% of people on imdb rated the film 1/10 and is often called the worst film ever.

External links

• 200 mph at The Asylum