El justiciero

Despite receiving top billing, I wouldn't call this a Dudikoff movie. It's Mark Hamill's movie all the way, as the former Luke Skywalker chews the scenery and steals the entire film. In a role that again demonstrates Hamill's versatile talent, he plays a mental patient who has escaped from his hospital to visit his doctor, Robert Mitchum in a small supporting role towards the end of the film. After an argument, Dudikoff's wife leaves him and goes to see her sister, picking up hitchhiking Hamill along the way. Dudikoff borrows his friend's car and sets out to find her, unaware of the danger she will soon be in. As much as I like to see Hamill play good guys, he always makes a delightful bad guy, and his role here is one of his best psychotic characters. Even when he's playing nice there's an underlining sense of uncertainly. The wife finds out Hamill is a psycho when he kills a hotel clerk and fashions a necklace out of her fake eye, dangling it from his finger and asking if she likes it. Dudikoff soon catches up, but learning he's a cop, Hamill forces the wife to hightail it, setting off a dangerous game of pursuit. Dudikoff thinks his wife is trying to get away with another man, and the entire time, always ends up one step behind. At one point he loses his car, forcing him to steal another from a car carrier truck as it speeds down the highway. (A great scene, by the way).

There's plenty of action: car chases, explosions, car chases, explosions, and one tense scene in which Hamill straps Dudikoff to the hood of a taxi cab and proceeds to slam repeatedly into the rear of a gas tanker (the driver of which must be completely unable to feel the hits his vehicle is taking). The climax at a hospital is pretty good as well, with a tense final encounter between Dudikoff and Hamill on the roof of the building. The gritty cinematography helps give the film a horror movie-like tone. I just wish we had known a bit more about Dudikoff and his wife. All we know is that he and a friend helped get her out of Russia, though how we are never told. But that little unknown plot point aside, MIDNIGHT RIDE is effective as a creepy little road movie, and fans of those should enjoy it. It would make a terrific Saturday triple-bill with DUEL and THE NATURE OF THE BEAST.

Not bad action film, with Dudikoff in relentless pursuit of his runaway wife. Seems she has had no trouble giving psychopath Hamill a ride to his Psychiatrist, Mitchum. This movie has plenty of truck size plot holes. Cops are portrayed merely as targets for Hammil's knife or gun. Realism flies out the window early, never to return. Nevertheless, things seem to move along at a frantic pace. If you can forgive the sparse character development, just go along for the ride with your brain in neutral. What Robert Mitchum is doing in this film is a huge question? His part could easily been played by any no name actor. Worth watching for Hammil's over the top performance, but just barely. MERK.

While I had actually never heard about this 1990 thriller titled "Midnight Ride", as I stumbled upon it by random chance here in 2025, of course I opted to watch it. Why? Well, because I hadn't already seen it, and also because it had Mark Hamill on the cast list.

Writers Russell V. Manzatt and Bob Bralver put together a fair enough script and storyline. It was a pretty straightforward script and narrative. Though, I will say that I was adequately entertained throughout the course of the 88 minutes that the movie ran for.

The acting performances in the movie were good, and I was especially thrilled with Mark Hamill's somewhat psychotic performance as the killer Justin Mckay. The movie also had Michael Dudikoff and Robert Mitchum on the cast list, so there were some familiar faces.

This was a watchable movie, for sure, but hardly an outstanding thriller experience. Nor is it a movie that warrants more than a single viewing. And truth be told, it was solely because of Mark Hamill's creepy performance that the movie stayed afloat.

My rating of director Bob Bralver's 1990 movie "Midnight Ride" lands on a five out of ten stars.

This movie is GREAT! For anyone who doesn't like it, doesn't get it. And, oh yeah, get a sense of humor (a black one would be best). No matter how many times she escapes, Mark Hamill just keeps showing up. Driving the bus was my favorite. His insane driving is ridiculous, but it's hysterical that his hands are always at 10 & 2! The exploding cars had us rolling. Also, how many cars is her husband, the cop, going to steal? My favorite was off the moving car hauler. Appreciate it for what it is, & you'll have a good time.

Even halfway through this film, I would not have recommended it. Now I would watch it again. It seems like one of those weak plotted, thrown together films with dull and boring driving scenes. And there is plenty of that. But it is not the plot. Nor is it stunning acting. So what is it about this film that works? Strong, pressing acting, without letting up. Each lull in the "action" precipitates more progression towards anticlimax. It gains a hidden rhythm and timing which turns what would seem to me to have been the most boring movie of the month, if not of the year, into something that stands on its own. Incidentally, they must have spent a small fortune on explosive materials. For a film having only four leading actors, Michael Dudikoff, Mark Hamill, Savina Gersak and then finally, Robert Mitchum, who plays this kind of role well, there was more going on than normal observation revealed. It comes out as a strange film and if you appreciate the way these things come together with a good, full cast, then watch it all the way through. After it is over, you'll like it. Then when you think about it, you'll like it a little more. Very odd. In fact, as I consider it now, part of the character of the film borrows from the style of older horror films made in the 50's and early 60's.