Collision Course Review: ★★★½☆ (3.5/5)
Collision Course is a clever Spanish thriller that retells one crash in several ways. The structure is smart, and the tension is real, but the shifting characters are hard to care about.
Rating: ★★★½☆ (3.5/5)
Genre: Crime Thriller
Language: Spanish
Director: Daniel Sánchez Arévalo
Cast: Luis Zahera, Laia Costa, Tamar Novas, Álvaro Cervantes, Karra Elejalde
Most heist films spend their time on the robbery. Collision Course does the opposite. The robbery is over in about five minutes, and the real story starts after that. The Spanish thriller is now streaming on Netflix, and it asks you to treat it like a game.
The story is set in Madrid in 2013, soon after the banking crash that wiped out the savings of so many ordinary people. Ernesto, played by Luis Zahera, is a bank manager who is held at gunpoint by four masked robbers. They break into the safety deposit boxes because they want one box in particular.
It turns out to be empty. They grab money from other boxes and run, but they are not happy with what they got. During the getaway, the arguments grow louder, and then another car smashes into theirs and flips it over.
Here is where the film gets interesting. It does not follow one path from the crash. It shows you different versions of what could have happened, each one depending on how the accident plays out.
The only thing that stays the same is the gang. Carla, Tomás, Raúl, and Pedro, played by Laia Costa, Tamar Novas, Álvaro Cervantes, and Karra Elejalde, are also police officers, or in Pedro’s case, used to be. That puts them on both sides of the crime. They are the investigators and the suspects at once, and each of them is trying to hide something.
If you have seen Rashomon, The Usual Suspects, or Sliding Doors, you will spot echoes of all three. Just when you think you have a clear picture, the script turns on itself and tells the story again from a new angle.
It can feel confusing at first because the film jumps around in time and cuts between the police and the robbers. Slowly, though, the pieces fit together. Then another twist comes along and shakes everything up again.
What stays steady in every version is the anger underneath. The film keeps coming back to banking fraud, corrupt bankers and businessmen, and the harm done to normal families. There are also love and family troubles among the characters, both before and after the robbery. That gives the puzzle some real feeling.
The tension works well too. Each version builds up a few big scenes, and the lighting and camera work help set the mood as the net tightens around the gang. The cast deserves credit as well. They play several versions of the same person, and somehow every one still feels like the same human being. The writing helps by keeping the lines steady across all the versions.
Now for the weak side. Because the characters change from one version to the next, it is hard to settle on an opinion about any of them. In one telling, someone is awful. In another, you feel sorry for them.
The actors also get so little time with each version that their performances can feel a bit reserved, as if they are still catching up to what just happened. There is also one small change outside the main turning point that feels out of place, since everything else stays the same.
The film also feels less final than a normal thriller, because anything may or may not have happened. But if you accept the rules, that stops being a problem. It plays like a chess match between the filmmakers and the viewer, even if only one side gets to move the pieces.
If you like this kind of twisty watch, our Immortal review asks whether a Tamil vampire tale is worth your time, and our Cult movie review covers a slasher thriller with plenty of fire in its action. You can also read our Collision Course release date article for the full cast and crew details.
Collision Course is not perfect, but it is smart, tense, and different. Come ready to play, and it will keep you guessing.
Collision Course is now streaming on Netflix.