Even after seeing it, I'm still not entirely sold on the idea that the world needed a remake of
The Hitcher, a cult classic thriller from 20 years ago. Yet, I have to admit, this version turned out a lot better than I initially thought it would. A lot of this has to do with director Dave Meyers' decision to keep the action fairly tense and tight throughout. Even though Meyers is best known for his music video work, he does not rely on fancy camera tricks and gimmicks to tell his story. He keeps things fairly simple and appropriately fast-paced. Though no one will ever mistake it for art,
The Hitcher at least knows how to keep the audience's interest.
When college sweethearts Jim (Zachary Knighton) and Grace (Sophia Bush from
John Tucker Must Die and
Stay Alive) set out on their Spring Break road trip, they have no idea what's in store for them when they come across mysterious stranded drifter, John Ryder (Sean Bean). They initially pass by him when they find him stranded in the middle of the road with a dead car, but when they run into him again at a convenience store a little bit down the road, they make the unwise decision to give the guy a lift to a nearby motel. John quickly reveals his true intentions when he pulls a knife on the couple as they're driving, and even though they are able to lose him by kicking him out the car door, they quickly find that this man is strangely persistent in pursuing them. Numerous murders begin to pop up as this mysterious psychopath tracks the couple down, and both Jim and Grace find themselves fighting for their lives and dodging the police as the bodies pile up. Meanwhile, John Ryder continues his seemingly single-minded mission to destroy their lives for reasons they don't even understand.
Clocking in at a very brief 83 minutes,
The Hitcher certainly knows how to keep things moving. That is one of the strong suits of the film. Once the character of John Ryder is introduced, it very seldom if ever slows down. The movie is appropriately tense and fast-paced, and although it's not always entirely plausible, the movie remains entertaining throughout. A lot of this has to do with the way the screenplay by Jake Wade Wall (last year's remake of
When a Stranger Calls) and Eric Bernt handles the character of John Ryder. The movie keeps his entire character a mystery, never once explaining a single thing about him. This works for this material, because it makes the character appropriately chilling and dangerous that we never fully understand his relentless pursuit of the young couple, just like the heroes. We don't get a prolonged "origin" scene that explains the nature of Ryder to slow the action down, nor do we get a scene where the character spells out his motives and intentions to the characters and the audience. The character of Ryder is kept mostly silent, speaking only when spoken to. He is an interesting character, as he remains a complete enigma to the audience throughout the film. It's certainly nice for once to have a movie psycho who doesn't spew out one liners and clever quips just as quickly as he slits throats. His silence makes him all the more chilling, as we never get a chance to truly understand him, which allows us to sympathize with the situation of the two heroes a bit more than we would in a lesser screenplay that would have over-explained its villain.
For the most part,
The Hitcher keeps things fairly simple. It is a cat and mouse game where only the hunter knows why the hunted are being pursued. It is when the movie tries to pile on the gore that things cheapen quite a bit. Instead of shocking, the violence in this film seems rather exploitive and overly manipulative. A good example is a scene where Jim and Grace come upon a discarded car containing a slaughtered Christian family that had the misfortune of also picking up the mysterious John Ryder. As the two heroes gaze upon the remains of a murdered child in the backseat, the camera focuses on a blood-splattered children's storybook with a title that asks "will I get into Heaven"? I personally found this rather tasteless. The image of the murdered family was enough, this "shock" image was a bit much. Also pointless is the film's opening shot where a rabbit makes his way across a desert road, only to get run over by a speeding car. It certainly doesn't help that many of the film's more violent moments are also its most implausible. I don't care how silent of a killer John Ryder is, there's no way he should be able to wipe out an entire small town police station seemingly in under two minutes without the two heroes (who are in captivity in the station) hearing a single sound. And you'd think someone would notice the guy chaining up an innocent victim between two massive semis outside of what seems to be a heavily populated motel and rest stop area. And, like a lot of movie killers, John Ryder has somehow mastered the art of teleportation, able to pop up whenever the movie requires a jump scare, and grab someone from off camera. While the movie mostly aims for the more tense and exciting chase and hunt theme, it can't be denied that it suffers whenever it tries to shock us with graphic gore.
No matter how silly the film got, it remained mainly in my favor thanks to a chilling performance by Sean Bean. His steel-eyed gaze, twisted slight smile, and relentless nature certainly fits the character to a tee, and remains appropriately menacing throughout. His performance provides the film with most of its successfully tense tone, and he is succeeds at never cluing us in on what the character is supposed to be thinking. In the two lead roles, Zachary Knighton and Sophia Bush are passable, but not much more than that. The most noteworthy thing about Knighton is that he at times somewhat physically resembles Matthew Lillard's portrayal of Shaggy in the live action
Scooby-Doo films. As for Sophia Bush, she gets more than her share of laughable lines (she seems to like to announce to everyone that she has a gun instead of actually using it), but she at least never becomes so annoying that you're rooting for the killer to put an end to her character. In a movie such as this, I guess that's all you can ask for in your leading heroine.
Even though I believe the original film did this story better, there's no denying that this remake is more effective than it probably has any right to be.
The Hitcher is well-made throughout, and even has an effective soundtrack that underscores the action and keeps things moving. If the film had not tried so hard to shock us with its own violence, it probably would have been even more effective. As it is,
The Hitcher at least manages to stay afloat. That's a lot more than I can say for some other recent horror remakes. I'll be surprised if anyone remembers this movie when the end of the year rolls around, but at least I won't remember it as being a total waste of time.
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Even after seeing it, I'm still not entirely sold on the idea that the world needed a remake of The Hitcher, a cult classic thriller from 20 years ago. Yet, I have to admit, this version turned out a lot better than I initially thought it would. A lot of this has to do with director Dave Meyers' decision to keep the action fairly tense and tight throughout. Even though Meyers is best known for his music video work, he does not rely on fancy camera tricks and gimmicks to tell his story. He keeps things fairly simple and appropriately fast-paced. Though no one will ever mistake it for art, The Hitcher at least knows how to keep the audience's interest.
When college sweethearts Jim (Zachary Knighton) and Grace (Sophia Bush from John Tucker Must Die and Stay Alive) set out on their Spring Break road trip, they have no idea what's in store for them when they come across mysterious stranded drifter, John Ryder (Sean Bean). They initially pass by him when they find him stranded in the middle of the road with a dead car, but when they run into him again at a convenience store a little bit down the road, they make the unwise decision to give the guy a lift to a nearby motel. John quickly reveals his true intentions when he pulls a knife on the couple as they're driving, and even though they are able to lose him by kicking him out the car door, they quickly find that this man is strangely persistent in pursuing them. Numerous murders begin to pop up as this mysterious psychopath tracks the couple down, and both Jim and Grace find themselves fighting for their lives and dodging the police as the bodies pile up. Meanwhile, John Ryder continues his seemingly single-minded mission to destroy their lives for reasons they don't even understand.
Clocking in at a very brief 83 minutes, The Hitcher certainly knows how to keep things moving. That is one of the strong suits of the film. Once the character of John Ryder is introduced, it very seldom if ever slows down. The movie is appropriately tense and fast-paced, and although it's not always entirely plausible, the movie remains entertaining throughout. A lot of this has to do with the way the screenplay by Jake Wade Wall (last year's remake of When a Stranger Calls) and Eric Bernt handles the character of John Ryder. The movie keeps his entire character a mystery, never once explaining a single thing about him. This works for this material, because it makes the character appropriately chilling and dangerous that we never fully understand his relentless pursuit of the young couple, just like the heroes. We don't get a prolonged "origin" scene that explains the nature of Ryder to slow the action down, nor do we get a scene where the character spells out his motives and intentions to the characters and the audience. The character of Ryder is kept mostly silent, speaking only when spoken to. He is an interesting character, as he remains a complete enigma to the audience throughout the film. It's certainly nice for once to have a movie psycho who doesn't spew out one liners and clever quips just as quickly as he slits throats. His silence makes him all the more chilling, as we never get a chance to truly understand him, which allows us to sympathize with the situation of the two heroes a bit more than we would in a lesser screenplay that would have over-explained its villain.
For the most part, The Hitcher keeps things fairly simple. It is a cat and mouse game where only the hunter knows why the hunted are being pursued. It is when the movie tries to pile on the gore that things cheapen quite a bit. Instead of shocking, the violence in this film seems rather exploitive and overly manipulative. A good example is a scene where Jim and Grace come upon a discarded car containing a slaughtered Christian family that had the misfortune of also picking up the mysterious John Ryder. As the two heroes gaze upon the remains of a murdered child in the backseat, the camera focuses on a blood-splattered children's storybook with a title that asks "will I get into Heaven"? I personally found this rather tasteless. The image of the murdered family was enough, this "shock" image was a bit much. Also pointless is the film's opening shot where a rabbit makes his way across a desert road, only to get run over by a speeding car. It certainly doesn't help that many of the film's more violent moments are also its most implausible. I don't care how silent of a killer John Ryder is, there's no way he should be able to wipe out an entire small town police station seemingly in under two minutes without the two heroes (who are in captivity in the station) hearing a single sound. And you'd think someone would notice the guy chaining up an innocent victim between two massive semis outside of what seems to be a heavily populated motel and rest stop area. And, like a lot of movie killers, John Ryder has somehow mastered the art of teleportation, able to pop up whenever the movie requires a jump scare, and grab someone from off camera. While the movie mostly aims for the more tense and exciting chase and hunt theme, it can't be denied that it suffers whenever it tries to shock us with graphic gore.
No matter how silly the film got, it remained mainly in my favor thanks to a chilling performance by Sean Bean. His steel-eyed gaze, twisted slight smile, and relentless nature certainly fits the character to a tee, and remains appropriately menacing throughout. His performance provides the film with most of its successfully tense tone, and he is succeeds at never cluing us in on what the character is supposed to be thinking. In the two lead roles, Zachary Knighton and Sophia Bush are passable, but not much more than that. The most noteworthy thing about Knighton is that he at times somewhat physically resembles Matthew Lillard's portrayal of Shaggy in the live action Scooby-Doo films. As for Sophia Bush, she gets more than her share of laughable lines (she seems to like to announce to everyone that she has a gun instead of actually using it), but she at least never becomes so annoying that you're rooting for the killer to put an end to her character. In a movie such as this, I guess that's all you can ask for in your leading heroine.
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