Being very different from the trailer, I still found myself enjoying this thriller very much. It's very unconventional, something I really enjoy. After watching a ton of movies over the years, I love to watch something new. This is!

We meet a guy out on parole after killing someone in an accident, going to Jo'Burg, South Africa, and going to be there on a scheduled time, meeting his wife at the American embassy. But things go wrong off right after landing on a delayed plane. He gets the wrong car by Hertz, where there are two car rented by the police. He finds himself in an awful predicament, and is soon hunted by corrupt police. But being the son of a sadist, the corrupt police has "picked" the wrong guy to frame for a crime. Paul Walker is great, acting very solid.

I like the South African touch here. An American coming to a very different and exotic country, where he immediately finds himself not knowing anything. This is fresh film making, and far from your average stupid Hollywood flick.

Don't listen to the haters here. They were probably expecting a Fast & Furious rip off or lookalike movie here. This is nothing such. It's a rather exceptionally different thriller. Not everything is 100 percent believable, but still it's way better than a lot of others.

Here's a film with a difference: a South African car chase movie, filmed from a single location (within the car) a year before the British movie LOCKE came out and was acclaimed for it. VEHICLE 19 is more of a straightforward crime/thriller, with plenty of nods and stylistic similarities to the superior DRIVE and Paul Walker cast in the central role to bring in the FAST & FURIOUS crowd.

But is it any good, I hear you ask? The answer is, generally, yes. There are a few plot holes here and there and some inconsistencies in the narrative, but for the most part it works very well. A word of warning, though: this is NOT an action film; there are only two car chases in the whole movie, and one of those isn't very good. The pulse-pounding climax more than makes up for that, though.

Instead, it's a film which tells a familiar, small-scale storyline at a fast pace and with decent direction and editing. Walker plays the typical 'wrong man' character who finds himself in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and in the wrong vehicle, and the supporting South African cast acquit themselves well. Make no mistake, though; this is a film in which Walker spends 90% of the screen time alone in his car, so it's all on him. And he's remarkably good, much better than he was in the FAST & FURIOUS franchise.

VEHICLE 19 will win no critical plaudits and indeed it pales in comparison to either bigger budget, action-filled fare or the excellent DRIVE. But I liked it nonetheless. It kept me watching throughout and it stays realistic for the most part, and you can't say fairer than that.

Vehicle 19 is another of these bottle films which tends to be stripped down movies firmly fixed usually on one setting. A boot of car, a car, a phone booth etc. It usually has one well known star, sometimes there is also a star cameo and mainly headed for straight to pay TV channels or DVD.

Paul Walker stars and is an Executive Producer for this film where he plays a fugitive from the United States who has broken his parole conditions gone to South Africa, where he picks up a rental car and is meeting up with his girlfriend who works for the American Embassy.

However he has picked up the wrong rental car and worse he is impatient to wait for the mix up to be corrected. Bad mistake, as he discovers a gun, a mobile phone and a bound & gagged woman in the back seat of his car. An incoming phone call makes it clear that this car was intended for someone else and he enters a world of police corruption as he is hunted down.

Bravo to Walker for making a film in Johannesburg which gives the film an unusual setting. Its of course sad that its another car chase film especially given the circumstances of his death.

The film is enjoyable at the beginning but lapses into clichés and implausibilities as the weak script brings it to a halt. The showdown at the end in front of the courthouse looks ludicrous but the car chase scenes makes the film look better than it actually is.