Fromage Fridays #28: Tracers

Go, go, millennial Parkour Rangers.

From Saban Brands, known to tokusatsu fans everywhere as the creators of Power Rangers and about 70% of Power Rangers’ crappy imitators of the 90s, comes their first major non-tokusatsu production; a film about young adult best friends with attitude in dangerous situations. Nice to see them branching out.

Headlining this little flick focused on the urban exploration culture of big cities is Cam, a broke, down on his luck bike messenger played by Taylor Lautner, who falls in with a gang of parkour practitioners that use their skills as couriers for a criminal underworld.

The extra cash goes a long way but as with a great many things that seem too good to be true, Cam ends up embroiled in a conspiracy that could unravel the few good things that he has in his little world.

With the dust of the “Twilight” phenomenon slowly beginning to fade away, it would be easy to criticize Lautner’s casting as an underdog but too his credit, he actually does a much better job in his position here than that of a typical leading man that the “Twilight” series demanded of him. He’s far from an Oscar contender but he’s at least about as decent as can be expected in this sort of film.

As action is the true star of any given action movie, the real draw for “Tracers” isn’t its thin characters or barely passable acting but the parkour itself. Does it deliver? Yes… mostly.

The movie works almost on a comic book level in its portrayal of Urbex culture and urban free runners. “Tracers” is at its best in the first half when it stylistically revels in all that this entails, such as the learning process, how to contextualize vantage points for the process, etc. It’s pacing reflects that and avoids slowing down as much as possible across its brisk 90 minute time span.

Quickness and creativity is the name of “Tracers’” game and its efforts to make good on those promises up front pay off well enough to make a strong first impression. This makes the relatively slower and less inventive third act of the movie all the more disappointing. It doesn’t exactly make one particularly sizeable screw up but for a film that’s all about the flash and wow factor of parkour, the execution of fun and unique free running action sadly thins out before the credits roll.

“Tracers” is about as light on substance as a movie can get. It’s all about the action and the aesthetics that make up its style. Fortunately, its style can make for a decently satisfactory hour and a half long ride.

3 Shatners out of 4

Bottom Line: Like a good fast food dollar menu burger, “Tracers” is insubstantial garbage that is over quickly but fun while it lasts.