Synopsis: Fast motorcycles and faster men and women all tangled up in a plot about murder and missing drugs.

Now for the Zone's Eye View:

By Michelle Snow

Director: Joseph Kahn

Cast: Martin Henderson, Ice Cube, Monet Mazur, Jay Hernandez, Christina Milian, Jaime Pressly, Matt Schulze, Adam Scott and Fredro Starr

Basically a less involved "Fast and Furious" set in the world of LA motorcycle street racing, this movie centers around Cary Ford (Henderson). Formerly one of the local hotshot riders in the area, Ford has been MIA for the last six months, supposedly due to a drug deal gone wrong. But Ford decides to return to town to clear his name. Not easy to do since his girlfriend, Shane (Mazur), doesn't want anything to do with him, he has a run-in with the brother of Trey, the local motorcycle gang leader, and the drug-dealing gang wants a piece of him as well. Ford runs into even more problems when he's framed for the murder of the brother and Trey (Ice Cube) gives the orders to bring back his head.

This movie's plot, what there is of it, runs predictably. Ford regains Shane's trust, convinces Trey that he didn't do it and manages to nab the bad guys. This isn't really a movie about motorcycle riding as much as it is centered around it. Basic rhythm of the movie is racing sequence…short confrontational dialogue sequence…big explosion…rinse…repeat.

The CGI-sequences are horrendous, as well. It's safe to say that if you were riding a bike at 100+mph, without a helmet, your hair would be whipping all around. And when the bikes are supposedly going that fast, they basically just blurred the background. Some of the stunts are ok, though as the movie goes on, it becomes more and more obvious that there's blue screen and wirework going on.

The actors do give it their all though, spitting out the cheesy dialogue like they really feel it. And some of the confrontations are so bad, they're almost good, if you know what I mean. Women also get equal screen-time to be tough, especially during the fight/racing sequence between Shane and the drug dealer's motorcycle mama, China, near the end. There's also plenty of eye-candy to go around as both the men and women are well groomed and buff.

After his great performance in The Ring, I almost feel bad that this is Henderson's first starring role in a major studio film. Maybe he'll have better luck next time.

This isn't necessarily the worst movie ever made, but Torque is proof that sometimes beauty only runs celluloid deep.

4 out of 10