| Overall Grade: |
C |
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| Story: |
D- |
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| Acting: |
B |
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| Direction: |
B+ |
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| Visuals: |
C+ |
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Well-directed, but idiotically written mess.
by Yahoo! Movies User (movies profile)
May 20, 2007
6
of
6 people found this review helpful
I read somewhere that in order to appreciate The Hitcher, you have to use your brain. I followed this person's advice, and found myself flabbergasted at some of the most blatant plot holes and contrivances I've ever seen. To an extent, I understand these leaps of logic come from the result of The Hitcher's omniscient, ubiquitous actions, which in turn is meant to jack up the creepiness factor. I suppose I can see how a villain who knows all and sees all could be frightening, but director Robert Harmon obviously struck the wrong chord with me here, seeing as it is I spent more time trying to make sense of the situation than I did cowering in my seat (which I actually never did).
This is all too bad, because the movie's got a great premise. Unsuspecting guy (C. Thomas Howell) picks up a hitchhiker (Rutger Hauer) who happens to be psychotic. It's a concept that inherently intrigues and frightens me, and it's a premise that could be played two ways, as a quiet, psychological suspense/thriller or as an action-packed ride. The Hitcher tries both ways, but never fully succeeds as either.
There's a lot of things that happen that tread the thin line between unlikely and outright preposterous. Here's a list: Howell somehow has pieces of evidence slipped into his clothing without his knowledge and when questioned by the police, he's transporting a car to another state and inconveniently forgets who he's driving it for. Hauer's psycho is able to park on a desert road with the police in plain sight. He also shoots down a helicopter with a pistol while driving his black truck off-road (that got the biggest laugh out of me and the friend I was watching it with). Near the end, Hauer breaks free of his handcuffs (this happens off-screen), kills a bunch of cops, and then (spoiler) appears to willingly let himself be killed by Howell!
It's possible all this is meant to be taken symbolically, but how compelling can a villain who wants to die (with not a single reason even hinted at) be? The Hitcher develops a weird relationship with Howell, whom he feels intent on framing for the murders he committed. Why, this is never hinted at. Just another instance of the script preferring to keep plot complications from arising. But it feels more lazy than inspired, and this is from Eric Red, a genre favorite who wrote the excellent Near Dark and the underrated Body Parts. I expect better from a veteran of the genre, especially one with as much talent as Red.
It's ultimately Robert Harmon's direction that saves this piece. The cinematography does a fine job of capturing the dark beauty of the desert landscape, making this a movie that's at least almost always nice to look at. Better yet, Harmon delivers one knockout action setpiece, a fairly lengthy car chase/gunfight that's truly thrilling, even if it ends on a ludicrous note. The climactic action scene isn't as well-crafted, but is a tense enough sequence to conclude the movie.
A straight-to-video sequel is soon to be released and I'm actually going to give it a look, if only for the super-hot Kari Wuhrer, who's beginning to make a career out of horror franchise sequels. |
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