Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3.5 / 5)

Release date: 8 August 2024 (Prime Video)

Genre: Action-Adventure, Sports Drama

Director / Writer: Kelly Blatz

Cast: KJ Apa, Eric Dane, Maia Reficco, Edward James Olmos, Austin North

Runtime: 106 minutes

Distributor: Amazon MGM Studios

Music: Nami Melumad

Cinematography: Luca Del Puppo





One Fast Move

 – A Father-Son Redemption Story at 200 mph




Introduction



After seven seasons playing Archie Andrews on Riverdale, KJ Apa trades jughead caps for racing leathers in One Fast Move, a small-scale but earnest sports drama built around the high-risk world of Supersport motorcycle racing. Written and directed by actor-turned-filmmaker Kelly Blatz, the film pairs Apa with Grey’s Anatomy and Euphoria veteran Eric Dane for a story that mixes throttle-wide action with familiar beats about family, forgiveness and second chances. Amazon MGM streamed the picture exclusively on Prime Video beginning 8 August 2024, giving the film a global launch that mirrors its accessible, crowd-pleasing ambitions. 



Plot overview



Wes Neal (Apa) is a hot-headed ex-soldier just released from a short stint in prison for a bar-fight gone wrong. Broke and drifting, he returns to the dusty Texas town he once fled, determined to resurrect a childhood dream of professional road racing. His only hope is Dean Miller (Dane), the estranged father he blames for a decade of absence. Dean now runs a struggling motorcycle shop, haunted by his own wrecked racing career and past mistakes. With gentle nudging from Camila (Maia Reficco), Wes’s spirited love interest, and sage advice from Abel (Edward James Olmos), a revered former racer who mentors local kids, father and son tentatively join forces to build a competitive race bike—and rebuild their relationship—before the season-ending “Lone Star 200.” 



Performances



KJ Apa shoulders most of the emotional weight and mostly hits the mark. He exchanges Archie’s earnest grin for a chip-on-the-shoulder swagger that suits Wes’s self-destructive streak. Apa also committed to months of track training, and it shows: close-ups of him counter-steering at 120 mph lend the riding scenes welcome authenticity.


Eric Dane is the film’s secret weapon. As Dean, he balances grizzled bravado with a wounded softness, selling the idea that pride—not malice—kept him from his son. Dane’s weathered presence grounds the melodrama whenever the script veers into cliché.


Maia Reficco (Netflix’s Do Revenge) brings warmth if limited depth to Camila, the mechanic-slash-paramedic who believes in Wes even when he doesn’t. Edward James Olmos steals every scene he’s in, delivering gravel-voiced monologues about racing “with your heart, not your throttle hand” that feel like spiritual cousins to Rocky’s Mickey. 



Direction and technical craft



Blatz films the track action with surprising clarity. Working with DP Luca Del Puppo, he mounts compact cameras on fairings and leathers, giving audiences a handlebar-level view of chicanes, rather than the hyper-edited blur typical of modern action films. The sound mix lets Nami Melumad’s pulsing score rev just beneath the staccato roar of inline-fours, making each downshift punch.


Where the direction wobbles is in pacing. One Fast Move front-loads its first act with exposition, stalls in a mid-film training montage, then races through a predictable final showdown. A leaner cut might have turned a solid crowd-pleaser into something genuinely propulsive.



Themes



At its heart, the film asks whether chasing speed can mend broken bonds. Racing becomes metaphor: father and son must trust each other at terrifying velocity or both crash. Blatz also touches lightly on PTSD and economic anxiety—Wes’s dishonourable discharge, Dean’s debt-ridden shop—but these threads fade whenever the next corner looms.



Strengths



  • Authentic on-track cinematography that conveys speed without CGI overload.
  • Engaging chemistry between Apa and Dane, buoyed by Olmos’s gravitas.
  • A straightforward, feel-good structure reminiscent of The Fighter and Days of Thunder—just on a smaller budget.  




Weaknesses



  • Formulaic plotting: seasoned sports-movie fans will predict each narrative gear-shift miles ahead.
  • Supporting characters beyond the central trio rarely escape archetype status.
  • Dialogue sometimes leans on motivational-poster slogans (“We don’t break, we bend”).




Reception



Early critical response has been mixed-positive. Rotten Tomatoes lists a 60 percent critics’ score from twenty reviews, with praise for the riding sequences and lead performances but knocks for “by-the-numbers plotting.”  Prime Video viewership numbers have not been released, though Amazon reported the film “over-indexed” among US subscribers aged 18–34 during its debut weekend.



Final verdict



One Fast Move will not redefine the sports drama, but it doesn’t need to. It’s a well-tuned, medium-budget vehicle for stars in need of new lanes, providing enough adrenaline for gear-heads and ample father-son angst for mainstream viewers. Like a dependable mid-pack racer, it sticks to the racing line, hits its marks, and crosses the finish with modest style—even if the checkered flag never quite flutters into greatness.


Overall rating: 3.5 / 5