Sophia Bush and Zachary Knighton star in the horrifying new thriller 'The Hitcher.' Visit the Photo Place

latest reviews by rob hedelt

Reviews of movies that have recently come to the Fredericksburg area

Date published: 1/25/2007

HH the hitcher (R)

With big-budget vet Michael Bay as a producer, this film about a road trip gone terribly wrong has a look and feel that initially pulls you in.

Young leads Sophia Bush and Zachary Knighton are likable as Grace and Jim, a young college couple heading off on spring break, blasting along a desert highway in an old muscle car with the windows rolled down.

Likewise, the initial run-in this young couple has with "the hitcher," played with ultimate disdain by Sean Bean, comes off as scary and all too possible.

At this point, this film is on track, making you wonder what's going to come of this obviously fateful meeting.

But all too soon, as is the case for all blood-and-chase films with little to say, the mayhem begins and the appeal of the film quickly wanes.

Instead of interesting action, development of these characters and a back story about who this strange hitcher, John Ryder, really is, this film just starts soaking people in blood.

If it's not the nice family the young vacationers had seen go by in a station wagon on the highway--with the scary Ryder riding with kiddies in the back--it's a whole station of police that this bad guy murders with ease.

None of it makes much sense or happens in a way that adds anything to the strange tale.

Indeed, the police in this film are portrayed as so stupid and incompetent that four or five of them in squad cars can't stop this one bad guy in a stolen Firebird. Not even with a helicopter overhead helping them.

But the hitcher, Ryder, keeps coming, following Jim and Grace until there's finally a resolution with each of them.

Yes, you've seen the previews. Young Jim ends up chained between two vehicles, with Ryder in the front one with his foot on the gas.

There's little suspense in what's going to happen there, the same way there's little doubt in the end that Grace is going to have to pull out a big ol' gun and protect herself.

Bush (on TV's "One Tree Hill") does her best as Grace, as does Neal McDonough as a state police investigator.

But what'll leave most filmgoers scratching their heads is what the whole wild ride was about.

Sadly, many will decide it isn't much more than an excuse for yet more car chases and brutal murders, and one more "rip-him-up" shock scene, in a film that's otherwise the epitome of forgettable.

Rated R for strong bloody violence, terror and language. [RF, RA, M]

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Date published: 1/25/2007