Drive Hard

DIRECTOR: Brian Trenchard-Smith

Starring John Cusack Thomas Jane

2014

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At 40 PETER CHILDS is starting to wonder if he’ll ever build his reputation as a top level golf pro and get a position at the top golf club on the Gold Coast of Australia. While building his reputation, he started filling in as an instructor at a driving school ten years ago … and he’s still there. Peter knows his life is in a rut - It started when his successful lawyer wife TESSA talked him out of his promising career as a V8 Supercar driver. With two kids in the family she pulled out the “responsibility” card. They have two kids and “Race car driving is dangerous!” And these days, Peter feels a stranger in his own home, as Tessa powers ahead as a one of the city’s most successful women litigators, and his two kids hardly seem to know he exists. Peter’s opportunity to break out of the rut came with an unexpected new student at the driving school; IAN KELLER, a handsome and charming, 45 year old Belgian who like so many Europeans, has never driven a car. The driving lesson is extended when Keller insists they stop at a large office building. Peter waits in the car while Keller goes inside. A few minutes later Ian arrives back at the Driving School car breathless, carrying two large suitcases and being chased by two security guards. He has clearly just committed a robbery and now Peter is the driver of the getaway car! Peter insists that he is having no part of this and when the police cars arrive he steps out of the vehicle with his hands raised – ignoring Keller’s advice that to give up would be a terrible mistake. Of course it would have been the right thing to do if this was a normal robbery - but it isn’t. Keller has stolen three million dollars from a Crime Syndicate Boss, a syndicate large enough to have the police on their payroll. The stolen money is crime money – so official police action is not possible. Peter can’t believe it when, one of the cops deliberately sets him up and shouts out that he is armed and about to shoot. As the squad of police open fire, Peter dives back into the Driving School Car and takes off –much to Keller’s pleasure. It’s now clear that he had carefully chosen Peter because of his past history as a racing car driver. He needed a good wheel man in a hurry and Peter was the obvious choice. There is a big chase and Peter shows he still has what it takes. After a few smash ups and a helicopter chase, Peter and Keller abandon the Driving School Car and with the two bags of money steal another car and manage to leave the city – a clean getaway. Peter is no longer in a rut – the adrenalin rush of the chase has given him back the last ten years. With elements of Thelma and Louise – Hard Drive becomes a great road movie as our two fugitives are chased by the Federal Police (who already had Keller on their radar), the Crime Syndicate, and the police. The fantasy soon becomes reality when Peter and Keller are recognised at a rural petrol station by a craggy attendant who pulls a shotgun on them in an attempt to steal the 3Million. In the ensuing struggle, Peter pulls the trigger that kills the attendant and from that point on he just wants to get out of this mess and get home to his loving wife and children. But is he in too deep to turn back? And is Keller a bad guy or some kind of Robin Hood?

Status: Completed

Genre: Thriller,Action