Gone in 60 Seconds-Directors Cut (2000)

USA Today
"...It's a pretty good ride even if it blatantly steals some of its best stunts from AMERICAN GRAFITTI and GREASE..." 06/09/2000 p.8E

Rolling Stone
"...[Sena] puts pedal to the metal in a product that will delight car junkies..." 07/06/2000 p.146

James Berardinelli's ReelViews 4 of 10
With Mission: Impossible II, director John Woo showed how the combination of tight editing and filmmaking flamboyance can transform a seemingly ordinary action film into something genuinely exhilarating. Gone In 60 Seconds illustrates the opposite: that bland direction and lifeless action sequences can turn a supposedly exciting experience into a humdrum affair. Instead of offering a heady adrenaline-and-testosterone cocktail, this motion picture, which is plagued by a lack of innovation and a needlessly protracted running length, may cause some viewers to nod off during the proceedings. - James Berardinelli
 
Rolling Stone 5 of 10
Gone in 60 Seconds is the latest summer no-brainer from Jerry Bruckheimer (Armageddon, Con Air), the producer who pays large amounts of cash to serious actors -- in this case Oscar winners Nicolas Cage, Angelina Jolie and Robert Duvall -- to play second fiddle to machinery. Cars are the stars here as Cage and his gang sweat to steal fifty of those babies in one night to ransom his little brother (Giovanni Ribisi) from the mob. Director Dominic Sena (Kalifornia) puts pedal to the metal in a product that will delight car junkies and drive cinephiles to swear off film until fall. - Peter Travers
 
Chicago Sun-Times 4 of 10
Gone in 60 Seconds is like a practice game between the varsity and the reserves. Everybody plays pretty well, but they're saving up for Saturday. First team is Nicolas Cage, Delroy Lindo and Robert Duvall. Second team is Giovanni Ribisi, Will Patton and Angelina Jolie, who gets second billing but not much playing time. There are lots of subs who come off the bench for a play or two. This is the kind of movie that ends up playing on the TV set over the bar in a better movie. - Roger Ebert
 
ReelViews 6 of 10
With Mission: Impossible II, director John Woo showed how the combination of tight editing and filmmaking flamboyance can transform a seemingly ordinary action film into something genuinely exhilarating. Gone In 60 Seconds illustrates the opposite: that bland direction and lifeless action sequences can turn a supposedly exciting experience into a humdrum affair. Instead of offering a heady adrenaline-and-testosterone cocktail, this motion picture, which is plagued by a lack of innovation and a needlessly protracted running length, may cause some viewers to nod off during the proceedings...Gone In 60 Seconds delivers what it advertises - lots of cars (they easily upstage the actors), a souped-up music score, slick production values, and a fair number of generic action sequences. Everything is overdone to the point of being ludicrous; cars in Bruckheimer films don't just catch fire - they explode spectacularly, typically taking a few adjacent vehicles along with them. And car crashes are always loud and violent - but everyone in Gone In 60 Seconds wears their seat belts, because they walk away from the accidents. For action to quicken the pulse, see Mission: Impossible II. For action to dull the senses, Gone In 60 Seconds will do the job. - James Berardinelli
 
Reel.com 6 of 10
The Academy Awards should start handing out statuettes for Best Trailer: Even more than the stars or director, a wham-bang preview is what really puts asses in seats on opening weekend. Hands-down, this year's Best Trailer winner would be the preview for Gone in 60 Seconds. A roaring montage of wild chases and stolen cars set to a stopwatch's frantic ticks, it gives the illusion that the film is a breakneck-paced thriller packed with elaborate boosts of expensive automobiles...Sure, there are some cool crashes and a wild section in which a compressed gas tank bounces around like a 300-pound pinball, but that's drab when compared to the first Gone's 93-car pileup denouement. In fact, much of the film is below even Bruckheimer's usual popcorn-munching standards. The pacing seems off, and there's none of the laugh-out-loud moments from Con Air ("Put the bunny back in the box."), or the nail-biting suspense of Enemy of the State. Besides a Raising Arizona-esque foot chase and a hilarious trick played with a tractor-trailer tow truck, viewers spend most of the time watching the cast ham it up, Armageddon-style, as when the whole car theft ring listens to War's "Low Rider" before going out on the job. Ultimately, Gone in 60 Seconds is an occasionally fun ride, but a totally unremarkable one... - Tor Thorsen