TOM exclusive manuscript; may not be reprinted without permission.
"Hitchhiker": A game of cats and mice on the highway. Wen/Vulcan Ji Where does the soul return? Go ahead; no way. Backward; no way. ——Vulcan Ji. Inscription.
A remake of the classic road movie of the same name in 1986. As the film’s creator said, 21 years later, people nowadays will not easily open the car door on the highway to let a stranger who doesn’t know the details get into their car. Therefore, how to get a stranger to open the door of someone else’s car in a reasonable and totally irresistible posture is something that may not need to be considered in the old version, because of the lack of modern people’s sense of security and the instability of the society itself. In this movie, this question has become a painstaking task. First of all, the protagonist is transformed from a young man into a couple in the old version and is divided into two. This conversion is reasonable, assuming that, as in the old version, in the current era and social environment, it is impossible for a person to drive a long distance to a stranger. Secondly, a car accident that almost happened during a heavy rain is arranged in the plot, followed by a small quarrel between the hero and the heroine about whether to let people get a ride. After a nap at the gas station, the protagonists Jim, Grace and John meet again. The third person suggested that John take Jim's ride, the heroine Grace was distracted by the plot, and the conversation between the three men, so the suggestion and request could not be rejected. In an extremely reluctant manner, the three of them got into Jim's 1970 OsMobil 442 regular-size light car. All this seems to be sufficient and sufficient. It is necessary to create an irresistible reason, and then put the people who should be together together before the plot can be laid out and developed. After doing this, the film officially opened. Cars, highways, blood, death, fear, love, intellect, power, everything is ready for a gorgeous start. Wearing a wedding ring is to make strangers feel more credible, because you are a married person who has responsibilities, burdens, and concerns. Such people are relatively sensible and also make people feel safe. Strangers are willing to let themselves ride in their cars so that John can implement his game of killing. John Ryder must be more careful, wiser and more scheming than the John in the original edition to complete these tasks that may be easily completed in 1986, close to 2007. Marriage became his prop. Carry out the killing and start the game props. For John, this may be more like a bloody and brutal cat-and-mouse game. The game officially began when Jim and Grace refused to take a ride on the highway with heavy rain. Don't kill Jim and Grace, because only in this way can the game continue, and it seems confusing. When a cat catches a mouse, it will never pounce on it and kill it with one bite. After it is exhausted, when there is no way to play with itself, it will hurt its killer to find a new target. Not only did Jim and Grace live all the time, but they could only live in the way John hoped, from victims to violent killers, to crazy butchers and wanted criminals in serial murders. Perhaps only in this way, John the murderer can remain at large. Killed a family of four who were traveling, killed all the policemen in the police station where Jim and Grace were closed, and killed all the four police cars and all the policemen on the helicopters that pursued them. Except for Jim and Grace, in the absence of any witnesses, Jim and Grace's suspicion of committing the crime is not lower than that of John, and John, on the contrary, has become an excuse for them to escape their guilt. The murderous highway madman; all the way north. No one knows what John wants. Jim has asked, Grace has asked, and the police interrogating John has also asked, but they can’t ask why. John once asked Jim to say to him: I want to die; in exchange for Grace to live, and he also threatened Grace with Jim's life and let her kill herself with a gun. In this death game on the highway, all people are his pawns, and he is in charge of everything, including his own life. Why; maybe, not why. What this movie shows is the lack of trust that modern people have in other people. In addition to the loss of one's own sense of security, this kind of deficiency may be more due to unstable social factors and inherent filthy speculations about strangers. The murderous highway madman; all the way north. No one knows what John wants. Jim has asked, Grace has asked, and the police interrogating John has also asked, but they can’t ask why. John once asked Jim to say to him: I want to die; in exchange for Grace to live, and he also threatened Grace with Jim's life and let her kill herself with a gun. In this death game on the highway, all people are his pawns, and he is in charge of everything, including his own life. Why; maybe, not why. What this movie shows is the lack of trust that modern people have in other people. In addition to the loss of one's own sense of security, this kind of deficiency may be more due to unstable social factors and inherent filthy speculations about strangers. The murderous highway madman; all the way north. No one knows what John wants. Jim has asked, Grace has asked, and the police interrogating John has also asked, but they can’t ask why. John once asked Jim to say to him: I want to die; in exchange for Grace to live, and he also threatened Grace with Jim's life and let her kill herself with a gun. In this death game on the highway, all people are his pawns, and he is in charge of everything, including his own life. Why; maybe, not why. What this movie shows is the lack of trust that modern people have in other people. In addition to the loss of one's own sense of security, this kind of deficiency may be more due to unstable social factors and inherent filthy speculations about strangers. The murderous highway madman; all the way north. No one knows what John wants. Jim has asked, Grace has asked, and the police interrogating John has also asked, but they can’t ask why. John once asked Jim to say to him: I want to die; in exchange for Grace to live, and he also threatened Grace with Jim's life and let her kill herself with a gun. In this death game on the highway, all people are his pawns, and he is in charge of everything, including his own life. Why; maybe, not why. What this movie shows is the lack of trust that modern people have in other people. In addition to the loss of one's own sense of security, this kind of deficiency may be more due to unstable social factors and inherent filthy speculations about strangers. The murderous highway madman; all the way north. No one knows what John wants. Jim has asked, Grace has asked, and the police interrogating John has also asked, but they can’t ask why. John once asked Jim to say to him: I want to die; in exchange for Grace to live, and he also threatened Grace with Jim's life and let her kill herself with a gun. In this death game on the highway, all people are his pawns, and he is in charge of everything, including his own life. Why; maybe, not why. What this movie shows is the lack of trust that modern people have in other people. In addition to the loss of one's own sense of security, this kind of deficiency may be more due to unstable social factors and inherent filthy speculations about strangers. The murderous highway madman; all the way north. No one knows what John wants. Jim has asked, Grace has asked, and the police interrogating John has also asked, but they can’t ask why. John once asked Jim to say to him: I want to die; in exchange for Grace to live, and he also threatened Grace with Jim's life and let her kill herself with a gun. In this death game on the highway, all people are his pawns, and he is in charge of everything, including his own life. Why; maybe, not why. What this movie shows is the lack of trust that modern people have in other people. In addition to the loss of one's own sense of security, this kind of deficiency may be more due to unstable social factors and inherent filthy speculations about strangers. The murderous highway madman; all the way north. No one knows what John wants. Jim has asked, Grace has asked, and the police interrogating John has also asked, but they can’t ask why. John once asked Jim to say to him: I want to die; in exchange for Grace to live, and he also threatened Grace with Jim's life and let her kill herself with a gun. In this death game on the highway, all people are his pawns, and he is in charge of everything, including his own life. Why; maybe, not why. What this movie shows is the lack of trust that modern people have in other people. In addition to the loss of one's own sense of security, this kind of deficiency may be more due to unstable social factors and inherent filthy speculations about strangers.
Believe in strangers, or not believe. Such contradictions may struggle in our hearts from time to time, when we see a stranger who needs help. And this contradiction is manifested vividly in the little quarrel between Jim and Grace in this movie. The stranger in Jim's eyes is desperate and desperately in need of help, while the stranger in Grace's eyes is terrible, unknowable and even very dangerous. In the end, their rollover accident seemed a bit ironic. All passing vehicles will not stop to let them hitchhike, without exception, keep them out of the door. Grace said to Jim: Look, now no one will let strangers a ride casually. I was wondering whether when she said this, she was thinking of her own affairs just to help a person who seemed to be helped by the interview, or thinking of the irony of Jim's wrong choice. What is amazing is the editing of this movie. This movie did not deliberately create a horror effect, and in addition to John's distorted and unreasonable abnormal psychology, it is more about pursuing a kind of rationality in the plot. And editing, making this movie get a balance between this rationality and the terrifying effect that the thriller movie should have. When watching this movie, it may be said that the editing of the first set of paragraph shots of this movie attracted me. Weeds began to grow beside abandoned cars on the edge of the highway. With a wide-angle lens, it gradually narrows. The subsequent shots have been following a little hare that sprang out of the weeds next to the car, advancing, following all the way, close-ups. The rabbit ran to the road, and a car drove in front of the camera. The rabbit looked around and continued to move forward. Then a fast car suddenly drove out from behind the camera, crushing the rabbit to pieces. Such abrupt effects and the tearing pain in the dubbing make me look forward to everything that will be released next to this movie. Because horror movies must have such unexpected and very abrupt scenes in order to surprise people. If this effect is not strong enough, then this movie will also lose some of its most basic things as a thriller movie. It should be said that the director of this film has the ability to create tension and abrupt effects. It also makes this film full of expectations from the beginning, and has a strong interest in watching it down. From the beginning to the death of the rabbit, the film used a long shot to complete it in one go, and then edited it to the splendid university campus with a flash of cars, naturally and smoothly. To me, the first set of paragraph shots of a movie are always very important, because the director's skill and production effects can already be seen in the first set of paragraph shots. Of course, this does not mean that the horror effect of this movie will be able to remain in this usual abruptness from beginning to end, which always surprises me. It should be said that the production of the horror effects of this movie still relies on the cruelty and bloody inherent in Western horror movies. R-rated movies, in Western thriller movies, this means that there are certainly no less bloody shots. Perhaps the most horrible thing is Jim's death, suspended in the middle of two container trucks, one fixed and the other forward. Pulling, tormenting, and then torn into two parts abruptly. It was bloody and cruel, and it was absolutely amazing in the splash of blood, the intestines that fell on the ground, the sound of tearing flesh, and the last scream of Jim. And the shots of John breaking free of his handcuffs. He hid his hands behind his back, broke the bones of his left thumb, and then took off the handcuffs, tearing off the flesh of his hands and still expressionless. The bloody shots are really alarming. This is a pretty good thriller road movie. Regardless of the layout of the plot, the interpretation of the characters and actors, or the director's control, it can be regarded as a middle-level work. Don't have high expectations, and you won't be disappointed. Highway movies are always inseparable from killing. What terrible things and people are waiting for us on the road leading to the unknown. The prosperity of road movies is more due to our illusions, expectations and worries about the changing environment and all the unknown. Each road leading to it may be the dream we look forward to about the beauty, or the fear of the unknown that we arrogantly conceive, or our inherent worry about everything that is changing. This is a combination of adventurous spirit and sense of worry. Modern knights have nowhere to go, no horses and muddy road ahead. Therefore, the desire for adventure lies in driving on the roads paved with asphalt and cement that extend in all directions. No one knows where the next stop will lead. There is always a John in everyone's heart. He is actually the deepest fear in our own hearts. The question is whether we can give birth like Grace, and finally, defeat our John and move on. This is a pretty good thriller road movie. Regardless of the layout of the plot, the interpretation of the characters and actors, or the director's control, it can be regarded as a middle-level work. Don't have high expectations, and you won't be disappointed. Highway movies are always inseparable from killing. What terrible things and people are waiting for us on the road leading to the unknown. The prosperity of road movies is more due to our illusions, expectations and worries about the changing environment and all the unknown. Each road leading to it may be the dream we look forward to about the beauty, or the fear of the unknown that we arrogantly conceive, or our inherent worry about everything that is changing. This is a combination of adventurous spirit and sense of worry. Modern knights have nowhere to go, no horses and muddy road ahead. Therefore, the desire for adventure lies in driving on the roads paved with asphalt and cement that extend in all directions. No one knows where the next stop will lead. There is always a John in everyone's heart. He is actually the deepest fear in our own hearts. The question is whether we can give birth like Grace, and finally, defeat our John and move on. This is a pretty good thriller road movie. Regardless of the layout of the plot, the interpretation of the characters and actors, or the director's control, it can be regarded as a middle-level work. Don't have high expectations, and you won't be disappointed. Highway movies are always inseparable from killing. What terrible things and people are waiting for us on the road leading to the unknown. The prosperity of road movies is more due to our illusions, expectations and worries about the changing environment and all the unknown. Each road leading to it may be the dream we look forward to about the beauty, or the fear of the unknown that we arrogantly conceive, or our inherent worry about everything that is changing. This is a combination of adventurous spirit and sense of worry. Modern knights have nowhere to go, no horses and muddy road ahead. Therefore, the desire for adventure lies in driving on the roads paved with asphalt and cement that extend in all directions. No one knows where the next stop will lead. There is always a John in everyone's heart. He is actually the deepest fear in our own hearts. The question is whether we can give birth like Grace, and finally, defeat our John and move on.
2007-04-24; Jiachen Moon Wuzi Day of Dinghai Year.
Note: The movie data extension link. ■Title: "The Hitcher" ■Translation: "Hitchhiker" ■Director: Dave Meyers ■Starring: Sean Bean, Sophia Bush, Zach Zachary Knighton ■Genre: Thriller, Story, Horror ■Length: 83 minutes ■Country: United States ■Language: English ■Release: Blue Sky Media ■Release: January 19, 2007
View more about The Hitcher reviews
