COLLIDE (Rated PG-13)

Besides death and taxes, one thing is certain in life: A Jason Statham action film is not going to get nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award. But action fans, for the most part, love his high-energy cinematic adventures regardless.

This won’t be true for every film that seeks to emulate the Statham style of high-octane car chase scenes. “Collide” makes an effort but falls short in this regard with high-speed pursuits on Germany’s famed Autobahn.

Despite a talented cast that is unable to save a film from its own self-destructive manner, “Collide” has the unfortunate feel of an inferior exercise to duplicate Statham’s success in the “Transporter” franchise.

Nicholas Hoult’s Casey is an American ex-pat working in Cologne for flashy mobster Geran (Ben Kingsley), who speaks with a terrible Turkish accent that he inexplicably loses during the unfolding action while living it up with hookers and cocaine.

When Casey meets pretty fellow American Juliette (Felicity Jones) in a nightclub, he decides to turn legitimate at menial jobs just so they can have a happy, normal life even if they have to struggle financially.

But when Juliette discovers that she needs an expensive kidney transplant, Casey returns to Geran for a major heist job to score the money needed for medical treatments.

Geran has in mind the daring theft of his chief rival’s shipment of cocaine hidden in golf balls. The contraband load belongs to industrialist Hagen Kahl (Anthony Hopkins), who is equally adept as Kingsley in delivering high-camp theatrics.

The idea of robbing Kahl only comes to surface after Geran’s plea for a partnership has been rudely dismissed by his rival’s haughty sense of superiority. The volatile Geran decides that the best revenge is to hit Kahl in the pocketbook. 

What happens for the next hour is that Casey and his sidekick Matthias (Marwan Kenzari) hijack a truck in an elaborate scheme, soon followed by Kahl’s heavily-armed goons descending on Casey’s trail in a furious chase.

The stakes are raised considerably when Kahl kidnaps Juliette, resulting in Casey having to use more smarts than he appears to possess to maneuver his adversaries into a more tenuous position.

Aside from Kahl and Geran facing off in a comical showdown in a tavern, the hour-long climactic action of “Collide” is all about the chase scenes with expensive and exotic German cars involved in demolition derby-style destruction.

TV Corner: ‘Feud: Bette and Joan’ on FX Network

A glimpse into the waning days of Old Hollywood, where female movie stars exuded real glamour even if they had no power to exert control of their professional destinies, seems about right as the backdrop for the FX Network’s anthology series “Feud: Bette and Joan.”

In the early 1960s, a ruthless studio head like Jack Warner (Stanley Tucci) could rule Warner Brothers with an iron-fist, giving the green light to movie productions without consulting a slew of executives.

When approached by second-rate director Bob Aldrich (Alfred Molina) for a project teaming up bitter rivals Joan Crawford and Bette Davis, at a time the two actresses had long passed their sell-by dates, Warner was rudely profane in his initial reaction to the pitch.

The thing to keep in mind about the aptly named “Feud” is that Joan Crawford (Jessica Lange) and Bette Davis (Susan Sarandon) absolutely detested each other and any definition of “cat fight” should include a picture of them at each other’s throats.

What would bring two enemies together was the shared realization that Hollywood, then and even now, subjected aging female stars to enduring a measure of ageism, sexism and misogyny during the twilight of their careers.

As “Feud: Bette and Joan” opens circa 1962, Crawford, having lost her beloved husband Albert Steele, the chairman of Pepsi-Cola, was coping with financial troubles amidst the inability to secure any film roles.

Unable to convince various studio titans to give her a chance, Crawford found a film vehicle in the novel “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” and pitched it to Bob Aldrich for a comeback attempt.

Putting aside petty grievances, Crawford suggests to Davis, then relegated to stage productions, that “Baby Jane,” a gothic horror story of two aging, reclusive sisters, would put them both back in the limelight.

For her part, Davis believes that while Crawford may have the looks she has talent that her inferior rival would never have. The pairing of the two became either a union of convenience or the setup for a raging battle of snide remarks and furious gossip. Here, it looks like both.

The best thing going for “Feud” is the excellent casting of not just the leading ladies but the supporting members, from Judy Davis’ turn as gossip columnist Hedda Hopper to Jackie Hoffman’s loyal if put-upon housekeeper for the temperamental Crawford.

At one point, Crawford says about her adversary: “I will have her respect even if I have to kill both of us to get it.”

As fate would have it, “Baby Jane” turned into a huge commercial success for which Davis would win the Academy Award.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.