Redline was the working title of The Fast and the Furious, a movie that definitely — alright, totally — inspired this movie.

The controversy around the film may be a bigger story than the movie, as it was produced by Daniel Sadek, who also wrote this movie.

Sadek dropped out of school in Lebanon in the third grade and worked in gas stations and car dealerships when he made it to the U.S. He noticed all the most expensive cars at his job at Fletcher Jones Mercedes Bentz were being bought by people in the real estate market, so he went into the field. By 2007, his Quick Loan Funding had approved US$4 billion in subprime mortgages, and he was making $5 million a month.

What do you do with that kind of money?

You gamble. You buy a lot of homes. You buy a lot of cars. You make vanity productions where your cars get destroyed on film.

Sadek funded this movie with subprime loans issued by his company, which closed its doors after the subprime mortgage crisis. Then, in late 2008, his lending and escrow license was revoked by the California Department of Corporations.

Vanity Fair listed Sadek at number 86 in their 100 to Blame for the economic crisis. They called him “Predator Zero in the subprime-mortgage game.” He declared bankruptcy and owed millions to all sorts of folks.

Of course, banks get bought out but those caught in the savings and loan crisis, the people like you and me, well…

We don’t get cars like this.

On the streets of Los Angeles and Las Vegas, daredevil drivers race the world’s most exotic cars with gangster Michael D’Orazio (Angus Macfadyen), hip hop producer Infamous (Eddie Griffith), Hollywood producer Jerry Brecken (Tim Matheson) and Chinese businessman Marcus Cheng (Michael Hagiwara) making bets in the millions.

The racers include gorgeous auto mechanic, driver and rock star Natasha Martin (Nadia Bjorlin, who engaged to Sadek at the time this was made) in a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren and Carlo (Nathan Phillips), who is trying to keep his brother Jason (Jesse Johnson) away from their Uncle Michael (yes, the mob guy). Everyone has all sorts of side bets and Uncle Michael also wants Natasha for himself. But first, Jason tries to race and his Lamborghini Diablo ends up in flames.

The best part of this movie is the stunts and the driving. It was directed by stuntman and fight choreographer Andy Cheng (a former member of Jackie Chan’s stunt team) and has cinematography by Bill Butler (Jaws, Lipstick, Grease), so it looks awesome while the cars are on the road.

One more bit of Sadek: he loaned an Enzo, just like the one in Redline, to Eddie Griffin for a charity race. Griffin lost control of the Enzo and crashed into a concrete barrier, totaling the car but not being injured. That was another $300,000 dollars lost. Sadek had to sell all of his cars not long after this movie, including all of the ones used on screen.

That Koenigsegg CCX that shows up at the end? It has a 4.7 liter twin-supercharged V8, 806 horsepower and can hit more than 245 mph.

The MVD blu ray release of Redline also has a making of feature, a video of the cast at the L.A. Auto Show — where the Porsche Carrera GT that Sadek gave to be crashed in the movie was shown — and a trailer. You can get it from MVD.