Finally: A motorcycle movie you can be proud of. After cringing our way through Biker Boyz and Torque, there's Faster, a masterful depiction of the 2001 and '02 MotoGP seasons that gives international roadracing its due. Recognizing a better story in the racing itself than any screenwriter could cook up, director Mark Neale takes us through four main subplots, beginning with a sort of MotoGP primer. Then there's the Valentino Rossi versus Max Biaggi duel that winds its way through the film. There's Garry McCoy as the long-suffering protagonist, carrying on through the unthinkable pain of horrific crashes, and John Hopkins, the American prodigy, struggling to make good in his first GP season.
Editing eight hours of archival Grand Prix footage and 230 hours of his own film into a 103-minute film, Neale tells the story of MotoGP in dramatic detail. The credits list 26 cast members, a who's who of past champions, current racers, team owners, mechanics, truck drivers, journalists, TV commentators and paddock doctor/philosopher Claudio Costa as itinerant miracle worker, mentor and father figure.
Wonderfully poignant details are sprinkled throughout. Journalist Michael Scott tells us how Biaggi was abandoned as an infant, and that Rossi had been driven by his desire to beat Biaggi long before they ever met on the track. Among many such personal confessions, Wayne Rainey explains how the strength that defined him on the track ultimately put him in a wheelchair. "Sometimes you gotta get beat," he said, "I didn't let myself think that."
Distilling the sport to its basic human essence in moments such as that, Faster makes it plain to anyone with a heart why the best racers in the world do what they do. For us, that alone makes it worth the price of admission.
Visit www.fastermovie.com to download a trailer or order a special preview-edition DVD of the film.
—Eric Putter
Price: $24.95 plus shipping and handling
Verdict: The agony, ecstasy and entropy of MotoGP in your living room.