This dull television movie only serves as a reminder to us how good the original car chase thriller, DUEL, was. In fact, this film is derivative of that in every way, even incorporating parts of John Carpenter's CHRISTINE en route (no pun intended) but still managing to come out inferior in every respect. The first half of the film is a boring, clichéd view of small town life where absolutely nothing happens, apart from the sun shining into the lens of the camera and boring people going about their humdrum lives. I was very disappointed by this lacklustre opening but finally things did pick up in the second half, which is basically a long chase scene in the mountains and desert, a la DUEL. Although this part of the film looks cheap and rubbish compared to Spielberg's classic, it is at least mildly entertaining and better than the atrocious first half.
The trouble is that the film is poorly made and rips off other films too much. In some instances the director goes for a John Woo-style slow motion but it just makes the film look stupid instead of stylish. Joanna Cassidy is truly an atrocious actress and her attempts at screaming are embarrassing to watch, incredibly asinine, and all round annoying. I had to look away sometimes. There are no other actors in the film to speak of, apart from the grey sedan which does assume a life of its own in a way seeing as we never meet the driver (which is quite disappointing too). The car is admittedly suspicious looking.
There are a couple of good scenes in the film, for instance one where the car hits a policeman who goes flying up in the air (the actor playing him was a stuntman so I guess he did that all himself). Also, there is an incredibly stupid and cheesy ending where the paedophile's car flies off a cliff (hmm, maybe the director of this film saw the ending of DUEL here?) and then happens to land on a big building full of explosives which was just sitting there underneath it. However the rest of the chase is dull, the cars aren't going fast enough, and there's just not enough to hold the attention. This is the kind of humdrum, mundane, thinks-its-good American film which I absolutely hate. It only serves as a reminder of how good the other films it rips off are. Don't waste your time with this stinker.
The trouble is that the film is poorly made and rips off other films too much. In some instances the director goes for a John Woo-style slow motion but it just makes the film look stupid instead of stylish. Joanna Cassidy is truly an atrocious actress and her attempts at screaming are embarrassing to watch, incredibly asinine, and all round annoying. I had to look away sometimes. There are no other actors in the film to speak of, apart from the grey sedan which does assume a life of its own in a way seeing as we never meet the driver (which is quite disappointing too). The car is admittedly suspicious looking.
There are a couple of good scenes in the film, for instance one where the car hits a policeman who goes flying up in the air (the actor playing him was a stuntman so I guess he did that all himself). Also, there is an incredibly stupid and cheesy ending where the paedophile's car flies off a cliff (hmm, maybe the director of this film saw the ending of DUEL here?) and then happens to land on a big building full of explosives which was just sitting there underneath it. However the rest of the chase is dull, the cars aren't going fast enough, and there's just not enough to hold the attention. This is the kind of humdrum, mundane, thinks-its-good American film which I absolutely hate. It only serves as a reminder of how good the other films it rips off are. Don't waste your time with this stinker.