The Last Ride (2004 TV Movie) User Reviews

Suspense movie with sensational cars and an experienced Dennis Hooper

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 7 July 2006]

The film deals about an intrigue involves various family members : son (Chris Carmack) , father (Will Patton) , adoptive father (Fred Ward) and an ex-con grandfather called Ronnie (Dennis Hooper). After thirty years he goes out from behind bars and arise the problems but the reckoning starts with the subsequent revenge . He enlists his grandson to execute the vengeance against the policeman and now a magnate who put him into prison . As he recruits his descendant to exact vendetta on Darryl , the cop who put him behind bars .

This exciting picture blends action-packed , car racing , pursuits , rip-roaring and a little bit of violence . From the beginning to finish the action pace is unstopped , the movie provides fast and furious entertainment for action lovers , in fact the movie is produced by Rob Cohen , a specialist in action films . Film is starred by agreeable young people as an impulsive Chris Carmack and a gorgeous Nadine Velazquez ; and magnificent veterans as Dennis Hooper , Will Patton and Fred Ward ; besides appearing very secondary Peter Onorati in a role as a nasty hit-man . The car races are driven by authentic stunts with spectacular vehicles , being a production by the company General Motors . The film has a lively and atmospheric musical score fitting the action , plus a colorful cinematography . This TV film was well directed by Guy Bee . The motion picture will appeal to frenetic action lovers . Rating : Mediocre but amusing . It's a must for the cars buffs . Well worth seeing .

Pontiac got its money's worth out of this thing

[MBunge · 5/10 · 26 June 2011]

The Last Ride is half action movie, half car commercial. I'm not sure which it started out as, a bright idea of the General Motors marketing department or a real film that had to whore itself out for funding, but the end result is surprising not terrible. Oh, don't get me wrong. This isn't a good movie. It has a badly constructed plot, an oddly disjointed generational theme and is about as exciting as watching somebody change a flat tire. However, there are plenty of worse ways to spend an hour and a half.

Ronnie Purcell (Dennis Hopper) used to steal military payrolls back in the Vietnam War era with the help of his wife and a Pontiac GTO named "The Judge". His wife gets killed and Ronnie gets arrested. 30 years later, Ronnie gets out of prison. His son Aaron (Will Patton) is a cop who ended up being raised by Darryl Kurtz (Fred Ward), the man who arrested Ronnie and now runs a successful security company. Ronnie's grandson Matt (Chris Carmack) is a gearhead who dabbles in street racing and various minor crimes. His girlfriend JJ Cruz (Nadine Velazquez) used to work in a chop shop but is trying to go straight so she and Matt can have a life together.

Matt and his grandpa team up to find "The Judge" just as Kurtz decides to frame them for murder. It turns out that Kurtz was Ronnie's partner in the payroll thefts, something he desperately wants to cover up. As Aaron discovers the man who raised him is a giant scumbag, he joins Ronnie's efforts to get the evidence of Kurtz' criminal past, which Kurtz' men promptly steal from them. Then Matt and JJ break into Kurtz' house to find evidence of all the underhanded and illegal things he's done as part of his security business, but they have to throw that evidence away to escape from Kurtz' armed thugs. Finally, Ronnie invites Kurtz out for a showdown in what appears to be a rock quarry, where he and JJ secretly tape Kurtz' confession before Ronnie inexplicably decides to kill himself and his old enemy by driving off a cliff. Oh, and while all that's going on, the movie repeatedly dwells on glamour shots of the 2004 Pontiac GTO.

The Last Ride is competently directed with mundane yet unobjectionable dialog and the cast does an adequate job, but the story they're telling is quite labored. For the first hour of the film, things repeatedly grind to a halt so one character after another can explain the overly involved plot and back story to the audience. Expository dialog is oftentimes a necessary evil in filmmaking. There's a limited amount of time and it's an efficient way of conveying crucial information to the viewer. Repeated use of the technique, though, is a sign of trouble. I lost count after a while, but this movie has at least 4 or 5 expository dialog scenes, which is at least 3 or 4 too many for this sort of thing. And by the time the good guys get incriminating evidence on the bad guys for a second time, only to lose it all for a second time, it's pretty obvious that much of what's going on is just to kill time between product placements of the 2004 Pontiac GTO.

Middle aged Aaron Purcell working through his father issues is also a weirdly distracting element at work in this movie. The old guy teaming up with the handsome young kid and a hot chick makes sense for this sort of thing. Sticking a 40something dude in the middle of all that and having him fuss and fume over the abandonment and betrayal of his father figures is like a piece of cucumber stuck in a bowl of chocolate pudding. It doesn't belong and somewhat spoils the taste.

Since The Last Ride is as much advertisement as entertainment, it's also extremely unobjectionable. There's no nudity, no bad language and the action scenes are about as tame as an episode of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood. Like most commercials that are trying to sell you something, this film doesn't want to distract you with anything with anything all that enjoyable. Every time you watch this and are thinking about something besides the 2004 Pontiac GTO, The Last Ride is failing in its primary mission.

Watching a 90 minute car commercial isn't exactly fun, but the filmmaking expertise used in making this commercial is high enough that it doesn't feel like a total waste of time. That's not saying much about the value of The Last Ride, but it is something.

Not as bad as other car movies, but close

[udeaasykle · 3/10 · 25 March 2005]

This is a movie about fast cars. Yes, another movie about fast cars. You thought we were done with those didn't you? Well, apparently we are not. And of course, this movie has some young stud that can really ride a car. And what else can we put in this movie, yes, one young hot girl that is a car mechanic. Not only a car mechanic, but a car mechanic that wears as little as she can, while SHE WELDS. Yes, I have heard that that is a really good idea. If you look away from the small plot holes and stuff like that, this movie isn't as bad as the Fast and Furious movies, but it is still not good. Don't really know what Dennis Hopper is doing in this movie, but I doubt that he is proud of it. But if you are a car nut and about the age of 18, you will probably enjoy this movie. If you don't like movies like Fast and Furious and Biker Boyz etc, stay as far away as you can. I rate this movie 3/10

Fairly Good

[movieratings03 · 24 August 2006]

THE LAST RIDE ***1/2 Great title for an okay spy/action/heist-gone-wrong tale that has an ex-convict (Dennis Hopper, nearly 70 years of age at the time) getting back at the foul cop-turned-forces manager (Fred Ward) who sold him out in the first place. A young renegade (Chris Carmack, admittedly impressive), the grandson of the former jailer, gets caught up in the mess when he decides to help his long-lost grandfather carry out the plan. The script is similar to that of 'The Recruit' and 'Partners' since it doesn't cover much ground or develops its characters very well in spite of a promising storyline. (I think Rob Cohen should stick to directing...) It's a real shame; still, fairly good entertainment.

I Only Watched This For FRED WARD

[lukem-52760 · 1/10 · 23 June 2022]

I Don't like fast car films & i can't stand the stupid Fast & Furious franchise but i checked this car flick out because Fred Ward was in it.

The great Fred Ward has a small role & the film was basically a family drama with fast cars & it wasn't any good.

It was good having two big movie favourites together with Dennis Hopper & Fred Ward but the film was very poor!!!

The historic GTO video is way more interesting than the movie .....

[merklekranz · 2/10 · 27 January 2010]

Forget "The Last Ride", just watch the historic GTO video, and then return or throw away the DVD. Dennis Hopper and Fred Ward are totally wasted in this preposterous, convoluted high tech nonsense of a film. Starting with the ultra ridiculous scene at the car show, the movie deteriorates with each passing minute. The entire paper thin script seems to have been wrapped around an 85 minute commercial for the 2004 Pontiac GTO. You can hit the fast forward button until the quarry scene, near the end. Then watch for the second best part of the film crashing off the top of the stone quarry. Immediately following is the best part of the film. It's called the credits. - MERK

Enjoyable movie that was more than just about cars.

[ba12 · 10/10 · 12 June 2004]

I watched this movie because my husband wanted to. From the trailers, the website even the promotion it looked as though it was definitely for guys. They sold Dennis Hopper, the good looking young guy and of course the "sexy" girl... big surprise. And when we watched the movie, from the beginning I thought "here we go again, another bang em up, chase em, over the top action movie".

But I was pleasantly wrong. The movie had a story, a plot and some good acting. While it was obviously still produced with men in mind (plenty of the actress in her red underware), it still kept to a pretty emotional story about a disfunctional family trying to find each other. I wasn't surprised that they were brought together by a car. And I wasn't surprised to see that there were bang em up and chase em scenes. But they were fun and a bit surprising. My expectations were very low but my opinion of this movie ended up very high. To be honest I didn't pay close enough attention in the beginning because I wasn't expecting much so I ended up watching it again. There really was something for everyone in this movie. I would watch it again.

Good, clean, gearhead fun with Hopper's Last Ride

[michitakem · 9/10 · 7 November 2004]

Dennis Hopper makes this movie worth the viewing, and the pretty cars and Nadine Velazquez certainly help as well. The similarity with Carmack's character and any number of recent "speed" films is obvious. He drives a modified Mitsubishi and thinks he's all that. But Hopper's character (1969 Pontiac GTO Judge) throws a wrench into that formula, and is one we haven't really seen in this kind of modern car flick. Hopper brings the legitimacy of a little known 1970's "Bonnie and Clyde" type art house flick mixing it up with the new & flashy "tuner" style.

Kinda like Two Lane Blacktop meets 2 Fast 2 Furious.

Dennis still has it!!!

[thejokersc · 10/10 · 2 June 2004]

The movie had a great plot and moved at a fast pace that kept me on the edge of the seat. I loved the action and the driving I thought was kept realistic.

Dennis Hopper proves he still has it. He was a perfect choice for this movie. The grandson of a ex-con and his sexy girl friend "JJ" made a good balance. The choice the writer had for keeping the secret on the car was so unique. My hats off for this choice. The whole time while watching this I found that I couldn't predict the next thing and I like that in a movie. Hopper made me remember "EasyRider" and why he became popular. I hope to see him choose some more roles like this one.

A very interesting movie with great performances

[soniagoenaga25 · 17 March 2005]

I have just seen 'The last ride'on DVD and I really liked it very much, not only because Will Patton, who is in fact my favorite actor, apart from Gerry Butler, is an excellent character actor, but also because the story itself is very interesting. Since the very beginning I was caught by an attractive argument so that I enjoyed this movie very much.I am waiting anxiously to buy it on DVD because I love Will, he has showed his enormous talent for acting in all his films so I hope he will be nominated for the Oscar awards one day. On the other hand it is clear that the American productions are much better than those made in Europe, without any doubt and although some of them are not good, (there is always an exception to the rules), in general American action movies, like 'The last ride' are better and more interesting. I do not why but the case is that I personally prefer those films made in the States and not only because of Will but also because I love them and that is all. In conclusion, this is a very recommendable film with good performances and an interesting story.

Cars

[eclipsegtv62000 · 10/10 · 7 August 2006]

I have just seen the movie and i think it's really cool The thing i liked the most is the plot I wouldn't change a thing about it it was perfect But the thing's i didn't think were all that great Was the color of the 2000 Mitsubishi eclipse silver They should have gone for something like red or blue How ever the underground lighting kit was cool But that's not the end the other thing i did'NT like was The 2004 Pontiac GTO with the 350 horse LS1 under the hood It would have been better to have used the 05 model with the 400 horse LS2 THAT WOULD HAVE BURNED SOME SERIOUS RUBBER Also the should have used NOS nitrous instead of ZEX They should have of raced the GTO at least once to see what kind of power it had the thing that would have been really cool is to have battled the eclipse against the GTO Another thing that stumped me was how did Dennis hopper know about The drift trick with the hand brake when he was driving the eclipse

It was really fun, great car action, 9/10

[j34 · 10/10 · 4 June 2004]

This was really a fun movie that had some great car action. The trailer I saw on TV looked pretty good but I didn't have much expectation since it was a cable movie. I ended up pleasantly surprised. The old and new GTOs looked great in the movie and the autoshow scene was pretty cool. I really liked Dennis Hopper's character and really liked the younger talent. The ending was a big surprise! I didn't see that coming. There was a nice development of the characters while still maintaining the action that I was looking for. The creator of the "Fast and the Furious" and "XXX" didn't disappoint for this cable flick. While, it may not have been worthy of the big screen, I would actually watch it again. For a made-for-TV movie, I gave it a 9. I usually won't bare to sit through made-for-TV movie. This one was worth it.