New posts

A little forum update...We're planning an upgrade.

Find out more about what's planned and how you can help support the forum
Click here for the details

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 446017" data-attributes="member: 23">The Hitcher (2007) <img src="https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.impawards.com%2F2007%2Fposters%2Fhitcher_xlg.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=5b78e6565b57627252108fe2f9487798bafde4edfadb90f5344a01227fbc0152&ipo=images" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="width: 632px" />Going in this remake's favour, I am unfamiliar with the original beyond a passing awareness that there is a late Eighties film of this name starring Rutger Hauer which has a cool poster of the eyes in the rear view mirror and the shadowy figure through the windscreen. How I knew even this much is a mystery. I can only suppose it's either from video shops, billboards or bus stops. If I had to guess, I'd place the original as one of those that's become a cult classic for people in the know. But it's passed me by.Apart from the hope of some glossy Noughties thriller visuals, the selling points of this remake are its brevity (it runs just over an hour and twenty), the presence of the always-reliable Sean Bean and One Tree Hill favourite Sophie "Brooke" Bush, and the fact that it was free on Prime.I'd expected something atmospheric and tense, and something that built slowly with an emphasis on characters' anxieties. It certainly started in a promising way, setting up the two protagonists and introducing Bean in a way that makes one wonder if it's the situation rather than the person who is creating the red flags in the mind of the two young leads. It's dark, and raining, and they are in an isolated and unfamiliar rural location.This changes practically immediately as soon as Bean gets into the car with them. Things go from 0-100 in around twenty seconds and from that point on it's relentless.There are some very effective jump scares that got me almost every time, but objectively they are of the cheap and schlocky variety. Any suspense comes from anticipating these regular peaks to the pulsometer.When it came to suspension of disbelief, the biggest problem for me was buying into the fact that the antagonist was practically invincible. Accepting that one man - even a psychotic one - could do most of what he did during this film was simply a lot to ask. Everything was just too convenient. The unknown may be more frightening than the over-explained, but that needs to be rooted in its own reality to convince.The responses of the protagonists was also often frustrating in a slasher kind of way, but the writing and performances did their best to sell why they would end up jumping through the hoops held up by the antagonist and cause more problems for themselves - and others - with each bad choice.And yes - the performances are good. These are decent actors and that goes a long way. There are clearly influences of films like Spielberg's Duel (one scene in particular, where Bush's character, from the window of a rest-stop-cum-diner, sees an offending vehicle parked outside seemed lifted directly from that film), but The Hitcher leans heavily into the lurid with every opportunity, making it more predictable and less frightening. Naturally, the 21st Century appears to give the female lead more "agency" than its progenitor.Still, it does its thing effectively enough, and was perfectly acceptable as a Saturday night popcorn flick. And while I don't wish to watch it back-to-back, I'm now curious to see how the original film compares.</blockquote>

Verification: Who played Sue Ellen in Dallas?