Asphalt Burning or Borning 3 is a Norwegian action-comedy movie and belongs to the Borning franchise. It is directed by Hallvard Bræin and stars Kathrine Thorborg Johansen, Anders Baasmo Christiansen, Alexandra Maria Lara, Shelby Young and others.
Asphalt Burning is apparently the third instalment of a franchise that no one really told us about. Netflix decided to give this Norwegian movie an English title and totally forgot to tell us that there might be a few things that we need to know. Or maybe, just maybe, Netflix knew that the first two instalments don’t really matter and if you can add 2 and 2, you’d be up-to-speed about who’s who in this movie within the first 5 minutes.
Asphalt Burning is a movie about Roy, who is an enthusiast for American cars and has silly friends for the laughs. However, when his marriage to his long-term girlfriend Sylvie is jeopardised due to her old roommate, he must race the latter in order to win back Sylvie love.
The fact that the writers decided that there’s a chance that a woman, on her marriage day, will forgive her future husband of kissing another woman is alarming in itself. However, Sylvie, probably because of her “love” for her boyfriend or, well, just because, decides that yes, that’s something that she will play into. No points for people who figure out the outcome of the race because it’s the textbook outcome. But “race for love” is disgusting, and no one even asked Sylvie whether she wants her kissing boyfriend/fiancé back in her life. Everyone else decided that Roy deserves a second chance and that Robin must race him again to save his marriage. Yeah, sure, why not.
The story is nothing new and the opening shot, and most of the rest of the film will remind you of the Fast & the Furious franchise. The makers tried to make this into one of those films, but really, there’s nothing intriguing or even remotely interesting here.
In movies such as these, you’d expect there to be some swanky races that make your heart flutter. Unfortunately, Asphalt Burning consists none of those things, and most of the races consist of CGI work that is so immature that it hurts the eyes. I don’t understand the concept of doing this since it adds nothing to the movie and just makes it look horrible. Additionally, the punch lines delivered by Roy’s friends do not induce laughs, maybe a mere chuckle sometimes.
The cast of Asphalt Burning does a good job with the material they are given. However, it’s forgetful, much like the entire movie. The characters are shallow and have no depth, and more often than not will annoy the hell out of you. There’s not much that you can look forward to here, except for, maybe, the pretty mountains. The “funny” characters are caricatures of people we have seen before in movies and worked well a few decades ago. But right now, these characters induce groans more than chuckles.
Summing up: Asphalt Burning
Unfortunately for Asphalt Burning, there’s not much that it delivers story or character-wise. The story makes no sense and the central conflict is stupid. If my fiancé kissed my friend on the eve of my wedding, be rest assured I am dumping that guy then and there. I don’t understand why the rematch is necessary. The movie does not focus on the problem here. Instead, it tries to tell us that Roy lost the girl because he lost the race. The race is inconsequential though, Roy is just trash.
If you’re someone who got introduced to the series through Asphalt Burning, then don’t worry, the previous two movies also don’t deliver much in terms of storyline or character development. It tries to be just another stylish and slick Fast & Furious movie but crashes and burns terribly.
Asphalt Burning is streaming on Netflix.
Liked the Asphalt Burning review? Read our other reviews here.
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