Blind Side - Straße in den Tod

Blind side is a copy off of 1992's unlawful entry. But is still worth viewing. Rutger Hauer gives his best performance since the Hitcher. It's a story about a guy who stalks a couple who just can't get rid of the stranger. Same story as the movie unlawful entry. Except the stranger in that movie was a cop. Blind side is worth viewing.

During their return trip from Mexico, Doug and Lynn Kaines (Ron Silver and Rebecca De Mornay) accidentally hit someone with their SUV. Realizing that the person is deceased, and not wanting to try out the Mexican legal system, the couple skedaddles north of the border... pronto!

Once home, aside from their ailing consciences, all seems well. That is, until a man named Jake Shell (Rutger Hauer) enters their lives. BLIND SIDE is a story of guilt, giving way to anger, and finally terror, as the Kaines's find themselves in increasing peril from this bizarre, unhinged stranger who just might know about their crime. Hauer's banzai, over the top, bananas performance during the finale is priceless! Watch, and be astounded!...

This is a "sleeper," an intense and involving thriller that grabs you from the start....but a film not people know about. Hey, only 10 people have even reviewed it here and the film is 13 years old.

To be fair, I did think the finish was unrealistic which the typical killer-talks- instead-of shoots mentality, a familiar flaw in flimmaking. Too bad, because the rest of the movie is very good with Rutger Hauer a convincing evil blackmailer. Few actors play a psycho better than Hauer (see "The Hitcher" and "Nighthawks").

Rebecca DeMornay is a sexy woman in this film while her husband is the sleazy Ron Silver, but the latter's character is better than most the villains he usually portrays. This movie also has the unusual distinction of being a modern-day crime film with very little profanity.

As a devotee of sleazy 90s thrillers, I ought to have liked "Blind Side" a lot more than I did. Rutger Hauer reprises his "Hitcher" persona, stalking an immoral yuppie couple after they flee a hit and run in Mexico. Hauer's scenery chewing excess is certainly the main attraction, but his character makes no sense. He's somehow both an evil genius and incredibly easy to manipulate, with his aims remaining totally inscrutable throughout the film.

The script is terribly weak, never generating any sense of urgency or threat in an interminable stream of fights, confrontations, aborted seductions and confusing twists. I had serious thriller fatigue by the end. The Brian May score (not *that* Brian May) is all over the place. I was particularly puzzled by the smooth jazz elevator music in the credits. Watch "Unlawful Entry" instead!

This film has a unique quality in the way the story is layed out before us. Imagine an optimal pace of the film and then slow it down a bit. In other films this would be a drawback because you would feel bored, but here the superb dialogs between characters create so much suspense that you will be far from bored and the slightly slower pace of the film will create a tension that you will physically experience in every muscle as you sit on the edge of your seat and watch the story unfold. This film shows us how when you feel guilty about something, everything you hear sounds like a prosecution. Otherwise this would be just one more of those nothing-special films, but the subtle insinuations in dialogs and an excellent cast led by Rutger Hauer make it a masterpiece. It feels as if everyone involved in its creation did a perfect job while at the same time being careful not to overdo it.

This is why I rated this film 10 out of 10.