Gasoline Alley
SABAN FILMSThe pull of a name and the value of it has spurred on unlikely choices. With Nicolas Cage on the press circuit talking about why he chooses which roles and dispersing the myth of laziness, it too happened for Bruce Willis. His reasons for featuring in such a large mountain of dross are nothing but commendable. Respect the hustle. At the end of it all, acting is a job like any other and financial rewards are the end goal, regardless of whether it wins an Academy Award or turns into a bit-part in a completely irredeemable feature. Money is money, and for Willis, that is a respectable goal as he powers through Gasoline Alley. It does not, of course, excuse the lack of quality though. Love it or hate it, there is little quality in this Edward Drake-directed feature.
Nothing sets Gasoline Alley apart from all the other action-packed features. It is more a damning observation of the directors behind the camera than the performers in front of them. Where the action genre is unsatisfying for most, it does not help that Drake is on his fourth feature for the genre in half the years. This fourth collaboration with Willis brings out the worst in the director, whose uninhibited spirit and general conviction to cliché are troublesome. Horribly dour guitar riffs on the soundtrack and unmoving shots of seedy bars, big city living and tough characters are not without their place, but when they are the opening to flatlining sci-fi piece Cosmic Sin and horrendously bleak Hunger Games-style riff Apex, the cards are on the table before the game has even started.
Even with those cards down, it is hard to see where Luke Wilson and Willis fit into this feature. Another routine example of fine police work, tense shootouts and the friends they make along the way in a feature that looks to dabble in the investigations of a complaining Hollywood starlet. Gasoline Alley tries to invoke those Black Dahlia fears but can only stutter through them as it tries to get to grips with a setting and environment that lends itself to neither the detective work Wilson and Devon Sawa are apart of nor the gritty action necessary to keep features like this afloat. Although Willis is still the name-value draw, there are similar strengths shared between Gasoline Alley and Midnight in the Switchgrass. Neither are by any means solid, but the draw of a Wilson here and Megan Fox there is the surprising twist newcomers to the Willis-fest may not expect.
Delving deep into what makes these features so consistent in their lack of quality is far more concerning and fascinating than the actual act of watching them. The saving grace is that each performer gets to pocket some presumably hefty paychecks and head on home knowing that their time at the top was a rewarding one. It’s a career, after all. Gasoline Alley is not a career-starter though, it is a killer. Few are managing the bounce back to the big leagues, and those that do have stuttered along for a long time to get back to where they believe they should be. For Wilson, the ride is just beginning.