ViewGuide

Created Oct 18, 2008 10:58PM PST • Edited Oct 18, 2008 10:58PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Pretty Bad 1.5

   Yeah, not so much. This is a film wasted. Its really unfortunate too because Sean Bean is awesome. He is completely convincing as a psychotic hitcher looking to take out as many people as he can before he dies. As charming as he has been in previous films, he’s got this look in his eye that just creeps you out. That’s about all the positive I can say on this. It starts kinda strong then goes nowhere. It does what every other horror movie has done before. Nothing new or original.

4. Acting

   Barely OK 2.0

   Sean Bean as John Smith is fun to watch. I think that Sophia Bush has potential as a horror movie girl, but its not really brought out in this one.

5. Male Stars OK 2.5

   Sean Bean has to be one of my favorite actors to come out in the last 10 years. Every character he plays (yes, even in Troy) is fun to watch and has depth that makes them pretty relateable. His John Smith is no exception. The guy is crazy and most of what you know about this guy is from his actions, not the dialogue. So it is very important that his looks say the right thing at the right time and they do. This really makes me wish he had played this character in a better movie.

   Zach Knighton is pretty forgettable. He’s a young dumb kid, which is guess is kinda the point, but you really don’t feel for him. When he finally bites it, you feel worse for his girl than you do for him.

6. Female Stars Good 3.0

   Sophia Bush has not been around much from what I know. I think I saw her in Van Wilder, but that’s about it. She’s fun. I think she does the scared thing very well and by the end the life is pretty drained from her face. She could have been capable of more, I think, but was limited by the film itself. I’m curious to see what she does from here.

7. Female Costars Good 3.0

   N/A, so this gets the same score as female stars.

8. Male Costars

   Neal McDonough is so overused as an authority figure its ridiculous. I swear I’ve seen him in this same role about a hundred times.

10. Film

    Barely OK 2.0

    The first scene in the car when they first encounter the hitcher is fun and really gets the tension going. Beyond that, though, it was kinda business as usual as far as horror goes. Nothing to get too excited about.

11. Direction Barely OK 2.0

12. Play Barely OK 2.0

13. Music Barely OK 2.0

14. Visuals Barely OK 2.0
15. Content

16. Edge

    Sordid 3.3

    There were a few pretty gory parts, but they really aren’t that felt. Again, when the kid bites it at the end, you feel bad for his girl, but not so much the manner in how he dies. It was graphic just to be graphic. I think they would have gotten more tension and a better reaction by not showing it happen. Have the viewers fill it in with their own head. I should have been the classic “just show the axe swinging, then the viewer has to kill the victim in their own head.”

17. Sex Titillating 2.4

18. Violence Savage 4.5

19. Rudeness Profane 3.1

21. Reality

    Surreal 2.5

    I think this could happen, but in other ways it couldn’t. John Smith is a disturbing possibility. This is exactly why you don’t pick up strangers on the side of the road. However he starts getting around things a bit too easily. He’s not some kind of super spy like Bond or a super hero like Batman, but he seems to escape and slip around just as easily as they do.

22. Circumstantial Surreal 2.5

23. Biological Surreal 2.5

24. Physical Surreal 2.5