In theory this might have been a decent thriller. A prosecutor obtains proof that the chief of police is the head of a sexploitation ring. Step two would be for the cops either to shoot the prosecutor dead in her tracks or perhaps kidnap her and whack her elsewhere. But no, they tie her up and leave her in the back of a rental van at the airport with a cell phone and a gun for, presumably, a hit man to come along and finish the job. Yeah. Of course there's a mix up and they give the van to a parolee who broke parole by leaving Texas and coming to South Africa (I imagine he had a passport tucked up his sleeve) to meet his wife who is waiting in the American Embassy. Little do they know that when he shows up at the embassy, he'll immediately be sent back to Texas for breaking his parole. Yeah. During all this we tour through all the most unsavory and unlikely parts of Johannesburg. There is the obligatory abandoned warehouse where the rent is cheap and the wrecking yard as well (how the hell did this guy end up in a wrecking yard?). This is mostly over acted and the characters are unbelievably dense. We've all seen all the tricks and subterfuges the bad guys pull, many times in fact, but this guy is so lame he falls for each and every one of them. The action sequences and car chases are okay, but aside from that
In one scene the "hero" is supposed to drive out of the garage and turn right and drive straight to the courthouse, the building with the big steps. Twenty minutes of cruising and chasing and being chased later, we still haven't quite got to the courthouse steps. It's movies like this that are going to be the death knoll for Red box. You tube has better offerings.
Review of Vehicle 19
