Movie Reviews : ‘Riding the Edge’ Packs Action With Its Silliness

About the nicest thing to be said about “Riding the Edge” (opened citywide Friday), another silly saga of an American teen going off to arid climes to rescue his dad from terrorists, is that it manages to avoid perpetuating at least half of the standard stereotypes about people of the Middle East.

Not that it goes out of its way to present a positive or realistic view of the North African region or that there’s much on screen to indicate that the film makers ever read about, much less visited, the picture’s locale before setting it there.

The father in peril this time is an engineer kidnaped from his research lab literally seconds after making a revolutionary advance in solar power. His competitors in the field give new meaning to the words hostile takeover and demand that their hostage’s adventure-loving son be flown over from California to deliver the all-important microchip in person.

Sonny would rather do things his way than the authorities’, however, and takes off across the Sahara alone on his motorbike in search of pop, eventually with help from a beautiful American gal versed in martial arts and a cheerful, English-speaking local kid right out of “Rambo III.”

As the spunky love interest, Catherine Mary Stewart helps lend the low-budget project what measure of professionalism it has. As the equally handsome male lead, Raphael Sbarge pouts madly and looks and acts, as the Stewart character duly notes, like someone in urgent need of a spanking.

Before tedium takes over entirely, two early scenes stand out: a motorcycle race through the gutted remains of Palos Verdes’ Marineland, a sad sight indeed; and probably a first in motion picture history: a ransom note delivered by fax.

For all its violence, “Riding the Edge” is relatively wholesome kiddie matinee fare at best, which makes it all the more curious why one single, out-of-character nasty word seems to have been thrown in solely to ensure an R rating.