Big Driver

It's not great but it's not bad. I rarely feel this ambiguous about a movie to be honest. It seems to be a revenge thriller with an odd light- hearted "Murder She Wrote" sensibility, which honestly makes no sense but results in something quite bemusing & unexpected. I really don't know what I think about this flick but I sort of enjoyed it. Some of the reviewers here giving it negative reviews are so incorrect in their comments I actually wonder if they even watched the movie. Certainly it's doubtful if they DID watch it that they actually paid it much attention. For example, there was no "dead relative" talking to her, that was clearly one of her novel's characters and the other women were part of the "knitting circle" from her books. The point was that she was having trouble separating reality from fantasy, but many have missed that point. There is a lot more to this story than some seem to think so if you are the kind of person who needs everything spelled out to you carefully and/or have the attention span of a flea then you won't like this flick. Others might like it tho. Worth giving a shot but don't expect too much. It just could have been done a whole lot better.

If you're at all familiar with the work of Stephen King then you wouldn't even need to be told this was an adaption of one of one of his short stories to know it. It has his signatures written all over it from the talking GPS, the elderly character from one of our heroines book who is an extension of herself, the dark humour - it's all there. I'm told this sticks very faithfully to the book and I've always felt adaptations of King's work are at their best when they do this.

It's very similar to Jodie Foster's 2007 film 'The Brave One'. A woman taking revenge for a heinous crime committed against her. These days the revenge genre, when the lead character is a man, has become a little stale so filmmakers are having to think up creative ways to keep it interesting with unique killing styles and traveling half way across the globe to find their prey. It seems the female lead character is still fresh enough though that the revenge can be enacted in a pretty straight up and down way.

For a TV movie the quality is certainly all there. The acting is very decent and the story never drags nor feels rushed. Maria Bello impressed me in the lead role. She was gritty and believable and never makes you turn against her which is very important in this type of film. It never really does anything original enough to be considered great which is the only thing holding it back. But overall a good watch.

This is written after my second viewing, not having remembered the first viewing when I first got a copy of it, judge that how you like.

Unabashed fan of anything Stephen King and almost anything that Maria Bello is in, this is a good watch. It starts off at a pedestrian enough pace, has a shocking bit that he viewer has to digest then powers on and builds to the climax like almost all Stephen Kings writing does with twists along the way.

Some of the story is a little predictable, but the acting by all concerned is well above average which made the movie quite believable. No silly mistakes and drawn out sequences where the villain gains a temporary upper hand like most revenge movies was a nice change.

Overall an enjoyable movie, but not for the faint hearted.

This has the creepy overtones of a Stephen King story and the movie does a very good job of delivering on the story.

On the surface we see a successful author of lightweight mysteries, visiting her fans, and enjoying their adulation.

Unbeknownst to the rest of the world, she has a childhood trauma that has given her some unique coping abilities that she has used to be successful.

When trauma hits once again, she copes because she has a genius ability to compartmentalize everything.

At times, I wondered if this was going to be a rehash of Misery or perhaps another take on The Burning Bed.

The movie successfully mixes the seriousness of a near death with lighthearted satire.

"I'll let the cops know but not tonight. All I know is if I see him again I'll kill him." Tess Thorne (Bello) is a famous mystery writer who is invited to speak to a group of fans. On her way back home she blows a tire. When someone stops to help her she is relieved but that turns to fear. After she is knocked out she wakes up to him raping and beating her then he leaves her for dead. She manages to escape and return home. Rather than calling the cops she decides to investigate on her own. She starts off on her quest for revenge. First thing I have to say is that this movie actually wasn't that bad at all...for a Lifetime movie. I wasn't sure how they could convert a Stephen King book into a Lifetime movie and I will admit that they did a pretty good job and Maria Bello does a pretty good job. Much like the Lizze Borden movie they did with Christina Ricci it wasn't that bad...but again...not that bad for a Lifetime movie. Overall, defiantly felt like a made for TV movie but I have seen worse. I give it a B-.