Recently I was watching Joy Ride, a film that does not represent anything outstanding, but that nevertheless, and in a really inexplicable way, I liked it enough to decide to talk about it, of course, to take advantage of the fact that I saw it recently.
---Source <<
Year: 2001 Category: Thriller. Director: John Dahl Cast: Steve Zahn, Paul Walker, Leelee Sobieski.
Plot
A student from New Jersey hopes to have a great vacation, so he decides to look for Venna, the girl of his dreams, who lives and studies in Colorado. But first, he goes to the prison where his brother just left. During the trip, and with the use of a CB radio, they make a joke to a truck driver nicknamed Rusty Nail, who will not like the joke.
Opinion
The script of the film is not the best, I think it is wrong several aspects and it does not take into consideration the details, but at least it contains the necessary amount of scenes of tension and intrigue to keep entertained the spectators.
The characters are very common, none have depth or a personality really own. The performance of Paul Walker is somewhat irregular and at times detached from the situation, he needs more charisma, meanwhile, Leelee Sobieski, a moderately good actress, has a secondary role, which is why she does not have a more important participation in the film and therefore the film loses a little the possibility that she contributes more to the plot with her abilities. Finally, Steve Zahn is the one who makes the best performance of the film, but his character has no ability to generate enough sympathy in the viewer. All this makes the film have that style of films like I Know What You Did Last Summer.
However, despite its flaws, the suspense and tension generated by the film is quite acceptable, so it does not necessarily become boring at any time, but generates interest in the viewer, making it wait until the end to see the conclusion of the conflict. A positive thing is the absence of blood, since the film does not need to show a large number of victims to show how dangerous the individual the protagonists are facing. On the other hand, the appearance of the landscapes of the motorways caused me a certain sensation of pleasure, I like the feeling of travel and adventure that scenes recorded on motorways transmit, and the film offers something of that. The last minutes of the film are very good, since they manage to introduce interesting turns, nothing original, but moderately unexpected to divert and confuse the expectations of the audience and thus surprise with a good ending.
The film becomes a very effective entertainment and is a metaphor that shows how dangerous it can be to play with the feelings of strangers, something important nowadays, since we do not know if on the other side of the radio or the screen there is someone really dangerous.
Sometimes films emerge that manage to transcend despite having an intransigent and careless script, and that is precisely the case of Joy Ride.
Trailer
Score
6/10
The film is slightly entertaining, the problem is certain moments and circumstances where we ask ourselves what the screenwriters thought when they wrote the movie. As a thriller is quite solid, it would be a classic in its category if it were not for the freedoms that were taken when establishing certain ideas. I recommend it moderately to fans of this category and only as long as they maintain low expectations.
