Producer Jerry Bruckheimer would have us believe that his new summer popcorn movie Gone in 60 Seconds is about professional car-jacking.

Yes, there are some car heists and car chases, but the film is really an ode to brotherly love and honour among thieves.

The brothers and their friends just happen to be retired car thieves or aspiring car thieves.

Randall Memphis Raines (Nicolas Cage) was the best booster in the San Francisco Bay area. The only car that ever eluded him was a 1967 Shelby Mustang GT 500.

One day, Randall's mom asked him to retire his itchy fingers and he went to work at a kiddies' go-cart facility.

Gee whiz, that's just the kind of guy Randall is, so it's no surprise that when his little brother Kip (Giovanni Ribisi) gets in deep trouble, Randall comes out of retirement.

Kip and his wet-behind-the-ears gang botched a big operation and now it's up to Randall to steal 50 cars in less than four days, or Kip gets executed.

Randall manages to recruit members from his old gang, including his former girlfriend Sara (Angelina Jolie) and his beloved mentor Otto Halliwell (Robert Duvall).

The old gang team up with the new kids on the block for the heist of their lives.

In Kip's case, literally.

Getting the gang together and planning the heist takes almost an hour of the film.

Screenwriter Scott Rosenberg and director Dominic Sena feel it is essential the audience get to know the gang members and learn they're not scum who used to steal other people's cars, but big-hearted people who adore cars.

This is clearly a case where the audience is expected to cheer and applaud Randall Hood, his gang of merry men and his Maid Sara.

All this would be excusable if the final 40 minutes of Gone in 60 Seconds was the kind of pulse-pounding exercise in cinema excess we've come to expect from Bruckheimer.

No such luck. There is one major car chase, but it's pretty paltry.

The actual car thefts are equally dull.

Cage is in full dramatic mode, whispering for effect and brooding to show the depth of Randall's emotions.

If ever an actress was under-used in a role, it's Jolie, whose most dramatic moment involves applying lipstick.

She's always in a pose, as if waiting for her big moment.

Duvall plays the kindly grandfather.

The film's psychotic villain is once again a Brit. Since Alan Rickman chewed up scenery in Die Hard, it's become an action film tradition.

Christopher Eccleston does his share of drooling and ranting, but he still can't match Ribisi's over-the-top performance.

Much of the film's comic relief is supplied by Delroy Lindros and Timothy Olyphant as the detectives trying to foil Randall's master heist.

It's far too obvious their efforts are going to be in vain, because Randall is an honourable man surrounded by honourable friends.

Who just happen to steal cars.

(This film is rated PG)

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