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It seemed odd to see Russell Crowe, megastar that he is, being featured in this obvious B-movie. They probably put most of the budget into his salary, with another good chunk thrown over to Special Effects, which are pretty good. The rest of the movie, while it's good gripping popcorn fare, is pretty ordinary for this type of thing.
Crowe plays a guy who (for reasons we aren't told) has decided to murder his family, which he does right after the opening credits. So we obviously know he's crazy, but we can't sympathize or understand because there is no backstory.
Then the story shifts to a busy downtown, where a near-divorcee is having a lousy day and is sent over the top by one last indignity -- she gets stuck in traffic behind Russell Crowe, and he refuses to move when a light turns green, so she lays on the horn and skids around him in a huff. So he catches up to her at the next traffic jam and proclaims that she's "about to fuckin' find out" what a bad day is really like.
From then on it's a combination chase/slasher/mad killer movie, with plenty of opportunities for the audience to yell things at the screen, such as "CALL A COP, YOU IDIOT" and "DRIVE TO A POLICE STATION, YOU IDIOT" or other phrases, all ending with YOU IDIOT. Because the protagonist in the movie continuously does the exact opposite of what she should be doing when faced with whatever is happening at the time.
Now having said all that, I will say that I was thoroughly entertained, and it was definitely an edge-of-seat thriller with a few good scares, and the actors uniformly do a credible job.... but why does everybody in a movie like this have to be so freaking stupid? Like at one point, the hero lady has the 9-1-1 operator on the phone. Crowe has just caused a huge accident but is still on her tail. She yells into the phone, "The guy you're looking for is chasing me right now!" The 9-1-1 operator says "everyone in your area is busy with a multi-vehicle accident." Lady says, "I know, HE CAUSED IT!" So what does 9-1-1 do? Hangs up on her, of course! I mean, come ON! Give the 9-1-1 people some credit for not being idiots, OK?
The sound mix was really good, and like I keep saying, this is one of those movies that's definitely better in a theater. Well they all are, but ones like this especially. Even though it was a big dumb movie, I have to admit it was a big, dumb, helluva lot of fun to watch.
3 out of 5 stars.
Crowe plays a guy who (for reasons we aren't told) has decided to murder his family, which he does right after the opening credits. So we obviously know he's crazy, but we can't sympathize or understand because there is no backstory.
Then the story shifts to a busy downtown, where a near-divorcee is having a lousy day and is sent over the top by one last indignity -- she gets stuck in traffic behind Russell Crowe, and he refuses to move when a light turns green, so she lays on the horn and skids around him in a huff. So he catches up to her at the next traffic jam and proclaims that she's "about to fuckin' find out" what a bad day is really like.
From then on it's a combination chase/slasher/mad killer movie, with plenty of opportunities for the audience to yell things at the screen, such as "CALL A COP, YOU IDIOT" and "DRIVE TO A POLICE STATION, YOU IDIOT" or other phrases, all ending with YOU IDIOT. Because the protagonist in the movie continuously does the exact opposite of what she should be doing when faced with whatever is happening at the time.
Now having said all that, I will say that I was thoroughly entertained, and it was definitely an edge-of-seat thriller with a few good scares, and the actors uniformly do a credible job.... but why does everybody in a movie like this have to be so freaking stupid? Like at one point, the hero lady has the 9-1-1 operator on the phone. Crowe has just caused a huge accident but is still on her tail. She yells into the phone, "The guy you're looking for is chasing me right now!" The 9-1-1 operator says "everyone in your area is busy with a multi-vehicle accident." Lady says, "I know, HE CAUSED IT!" So what does 9-1-1 do? Hangs up on her, of course! I mean, come ON! Give the 9-1-1 people some credit for not being idiots, OK?
The sound mix was really good, and like I keep saying, this is one of those movies that's definitely better in a theater. Well they all are, but ones like this especially. Even though it was a big dumb movie, I have to admit it was a big, dumb, helluva lot of fun to watch.
3 out of 5 stars.