Wes Neal has a need for speed—specifically, astride his trusty motorcycle. And what better way to scratch that itch than to race?
Unfortunately, that line of thinking lands him in hot water. Wes, a soldier, takes part in an illegal race on his military base. When the police arrive to break things up, Wes flees. In the ensuing chase, he’s arrested, but not before causing a crash that injures some of the officers.
Wes spends the next six months in prison. He’s kicked out of the military, stripped of any benefits he had earned, and is released back to civilian life. A counselor offers to help him get back on his feet—maybe get him a job in construction. But Wes isn’t interested in that. His main concern?
“When can I get my bike back?” he asks the counselor.
He gets his bike back. And so, with nothing but his motorcycle and the clothes on his back, Wes heads south. He’s heard his father is down that way—racing motorcycles. Exactly what Wes wants to do.
But there’s a complication. Wes doesn’t actually know his father. His dad, Dean, left Wes’ mother (since passed) before Wes was born, clearly not interested in the whole fatherhood thing.
Still, Wes is out of options. If he’s ever going to get into the (legitimate) racing world, Dean is his best bet.
But will Dean even want anything to do with him? Wes doesn’t know. And when they meet, Dean isn’t so sure either. Eventually, though, Dean agrees to take Wes under his wing, training him to race.
“The faster I go,” Wes says, “the calmer I feel.”
“So you just need to keep going faster,” Dean replies.
But Wes starts to feel that slowing down a bit could be a good thing. And that the path that his dad took (and is still on) might not be a road he wants to travel.
Dean gives Wes an opportunity to race—agreeing to train him and even lending him parts to rebuild his motorbike. And while it’s not often, Dean also provides some encouragement as Wes learns the ins-and-outs of racing. And, after Wes wins his first race, Dean loudly exclaims, “That’s my son!”
Although Dean is Wes’ biological father, he doesn’t provide the best example for his son (more on that later). Instead, it’s Abel, a motorcycle shop owner and mechanic, who gives Wes a more positive father figure. He gives Wes a job and a place to stay. The best advice Wes receives also comes from Abel. When Wes is having troubles in his personal life, Abel tells him, “Everything worthwhile is complicated”—encouraging him to fight to keep his relationships and not abandon them.
Camila, the girl Wes falls for, says she wants to take care of people. She talks about forgiving her father for leaving her mother, freeing her from the anger that had been eating away at her.
Though Camila initially hides that she has a young son, Leo, Wes is very understanding of the situation and treats the boy with kindness. Wes comes to fill a fatherly role for Leo (whose own father is out of the picture).
We’re told that when Wes’ mom found out she was pregnant, young and unmarried, she was determined to keep the baby. Camila came to a similar decision in her own situation.
Dean says he met Wes’ mother in church. A church is seen just off the road—its marquee reads: “In all things give thanks. Everyone welcome.”
Early in the film, Dean pretends to flash a pair of women—to their delight, apparently. And in terms of sexual content, it only goes downhill from there.
Dean has a lot of casual sex. At one point, he crudely tells Wes that he needs a few minutes to wash his privates. His house is littered with pictures of naked women revealing exposed breasts and backsides.
Wes and Camila start a relationship. They hold each other close while dancing and kiss passionately throughout the film. Later, they strip down to their undergarments and have sex. The camera lingers to show the motions and we hear their heavy breathing. Afterwards, they lie in bed together, Wes shirtless and Camila in a bra. They snuggle and kiss.
Wes is often shirtless, whether lounging around or working out. Other men strut around without their shirts. Women wear short skirts and midriff-revealing tops.
A character is kept awake by the sound of a couple having sex in the next room. A woman pulls up her top, revealing the underside of her breasts for a man to kiss them. The same woman says someone’s scar is “sexy.” A stripper dances on a stage: She wears a thong, and we see most of her backside. Someone asks a man a sexually charged question: “Ready to have some fun?”
A young woman is referred to as a “groupie.” Dean says he and Wes’ mother had a “good time” on a date when they were young. We find out this included sex, as Wes’ mom discovered she was pregnant some weeks afterward.
A police car flips and crashes during a chase. We hear later that officers inside the car were injured. A man falls from his motorcycle. Police pull a man off a fence and force him to the ground.
Dean shows Wes a damaged motorbike and tells him it was hit by a car—but there’s no mention of what happened to its driver. Rival racers get into a brawl. Several punches are thrown.
Two characters argue, which eventually boils over to physical violence. Someone uses a cigarette to set a motorcycle on fire. We’re told of someone dying in a car accident. A man reveals that his father would beat him when he was a kid.
A man crashes his bike during the final lap of a race and lays motionless for some time. (He is OK, and eventually gets up with the help of EMTs).
Nearly 50 uses of the f-word. The s-word is used more than 30 times. Characters use “h—” 10 times and “a–” seven times. Additionally, there are a handful of uses of “crap,” “d–k,” “b–ch,” “b–tard,” “p—y” and “p-ss,” along with some obscene terms for male body parts.
Jesus’ name is abused five times. God’s name is misused seven times, mostly paired with “d–n.”
Dean’s motorcycle jacket smells like champagne, which he says is “the smell of a winner.” He tells Wes the “taste of glory” in racing is “the best high there is.”
People drink throughout the movie. A local bar is a frequent hangout. Several characters smoke cigarettes. A man partakes in what is implied to be marijuana: He claims it’s “purely medicinal.”
Wes carries a pack of cigarettes and smokes often. A man asks a woman to grab a drink with him. Shots are poured.
After a night of heavy drinking, a man says he has no idea how he got home. A bong can be seen on someone’s coffee table. Someone relays that they have been drinking so long that a “day drink” turned into a “nightcap.”
Dean offers Wes a mysterious drug that will put him “in the zone” for a race. He says it’s been prescribed by a doctor, but this claim is questionable at best.
Dean abandoned Wes and his mother while Wes was still in the womb. When they finally meet years later, Dean seems uninterested in getting to know his son. Wes reassures Dean by telling him that “he’s not looking for a father.”
Throughout the film, Dean fluctuates between mentor and antagonist—teaching Wes the skills he needs for the racetrack but also imparting some self-destructive life advice. He wistfully says a reason racers race is to stare down death and feel alive. Dean also tells Wes, “Unless you’re willing to risk everything, you’re already dead.”
Wes tells Camila that he never really has had people in his life who have cared about him (save his mother). Camila shares that her father had a lot of girlfriends after he left her mother—and the youngest was Camila’s age. Camila withholds the fact that she has a child because she doesn’t want to “scare off” Wes.
When pressed on why he abandoned his son, Dean bluntly says he didn’t want to “throw his life away” raising a child—he wanted to continue chasing the “fast life” by racing.
A famous racer is lauded for his dedication to his craft—which includes never being married or having kids to look after. Someone says, “You can’t life get in the way if you’re destined for greatness.” It’s clear the “life” that he references here is a family.
Another man wants to ride a dangerous local road called the “Dragon’s Tail.” He drives the road at high speeds and nearly causes a wreck. It doesn’t deter the man—he’s excited by the danger.
Someone claims a motorbike is like a child to him. A man has a falling out with a longtime friend. Another spends a night in jail. Competitors cheat during races. Based on his own troubled relationship with his father, a man believes feels that his son was better off without him. An illegal motorcycle race takes place. At times, Wes rides his bike without a helmet. Someone tries to derail a romantic relationship for selfish reasons.
I’ll admit, One Fast Move surprised me. I went into it expecting a fairly by-the-numbers sports movie, and while it certainly hits several of those beats, it strives for greater depth by digging into the flawed and wounded relationships between fathers and sons.
The prominent men in this film, men who race motorcycles to get “up close and personal with death” to “feel alive,” as Dean puts it, are scared to death by the prospect of fatherhood and the responsibility that comes with it. They run from it as fast as they can.
To its credit, the story doesn’t shy away from showing us the brokenness that results from that abdication. Despite what Dean may believe, Wes clearly suffered from not having a loving father present when he was growing up: He’s reckless. He runs afoul of the law. And he has trouble forming positive, lasting relationships.
For a film devoid of strong, committed fathers, it does a pretty good job showing the brokenness resulting from their absence. That’s not without merit. According to the America First Policy Institute, fatherless children “are more likely to abuse drugs” and are “anywhere from 3 to 20 times more likely to be incarcerated than children raised in dual-parent households.”
Fathers are important, and that’s something worth communicating in our stories. There may not be much glory in fatherhood, at least not the kind of worldly acclaim someone like Dean is chasing, but it’s a calling that has eternal significance.
There’s also a heroic undercurrent to be found here, specifically as it relates to mothers choosing life for their preborn children. Dean relates that when Wes’ mom found out she was pregnant, she was intent on keeping the baby. Camila evidently had a similar mindset—she kept Leo even though that meant giving up her dreams of being on Broadway. And Camila doesn’t regret that decision, either, telling Wes that her son is “the best thing that ever happened to [her].”
Despite those positives, the movie stalls out due to its considerable content concerns. Characters drink, smoke, and curse constantly. Sexual situations and innuendo are frequent. Tempers flare, fists fly, and motorbikes crash. And the pursuit of “the fast life” leads to all sorts of objectionable decisions.
Although One Fast Move tries to tell an interesting story about fatherhood, responsibility, and the pursuit greatness, its problematic content ultimately causes it to veer off the track.
Bret loves a good story—be it a movie, show, or video game—and enjoys geeking out about things like plot and story structure. He has a blast reading and writing fiction and has penned several short stories and screenplays. He and his wife love to kayak the many beautiful Colorado lakes with their dog.
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