bernie-122

I wasn't sure at first, but I like Sissy and JK, so I stayed. Glad I did. Apart from some interludes of, to me, inappropriate drama, it kept pulling me along. Otherwise the acting is top drawer and the story hasn't yet become too implausible. Still time for that, I suppose, but that would mean there's going to be a second season. I;ve given it a 7. Would have been an 8 without aforementioned unnecessary drama scenes.

I wish people would stop comparing this title to "Duel". There are few if any similarities. Rutger Hauer owns this movie. On the other hand, C. Thomas Howell almost succeeded in ruining the film. I am gobsmacked at how many reviewers praised his cringe-worthy performance. I don't know if he is naturally a rotten actor, or he was just doing what the director told him to do. It's an even bigger tribute to Hauer's talents that he easily offset all the bad acting by the rest of the cast and made this film a timeless classic. Really, looking back on it, it's almost as if they were intending to make a "So bad it's good" movie, and nearly succeeded. J. J. Leigh was right behind C. T. Howell in the bad acting stakes, but wasn't able to be anywhere near as maddenly annoying and and make such spectacularly stupid choices all the way through. There seems to be an unwritten rule that says any American film must have characters like this; it doesn't seem to happen anywhere else. Anyway, Hauer singlehandedly rescues this mess, which shouldn't have been possible with the string of improbabilities in the plot, such as shooting down a helicopter with a pistol from a moving vehicle. Yeah, right. (I'm going to go out on a limb here and not call that a spoiler) The original, with all its flaws, easily outshines the tragic 2007 remake; I really like Sean Bean, but Rutger Hauer he isn't. It's well and fitting to be that way; they never should have attempted to remake this. I will give this one an 8/10, not a 10, only because Howell's horrible performance cannot be ignored.