Encuentro con el lobo

I know, it may seem ridiculous to some, but actually, even after all these years (now well into 2012), this is still a film to watch, and no one could have delivered the key role more perfectly than Reese Witherspoon. She is simply spectacularly spot on with her characterization of the theme and culture that is her character here.

The story is a bit hard edged for some, but sadly, not entirely outside the realms of reality in the current world.

Do characters like hers in this film really exist as portrayed? Absolutely yes. Do characters like that portrayed by Sutherland, the predatory pedophile sociopath who appears to be so acceptably "normal" to the outside world? Absolutely yes, as recent history has shown only too clearly.

On the surface this may have appeared to be a sort of whacky, creepy crime thriller, but actually, if one actually takes the time to watch this film, there is much more to this than the ad copy may have suggested at the time.

It is still currently viable, to this very day . . . has stood the test of time.

And it is absolutely one of Reese's best ever performances.

Sadly, her more recent work has sort of flattened out into much less risky, complex roles, but hey, a great actress she is.

Reese Witherspoon has never made a better movie than Freeway...Although I respect her for wanting to do more romantic/family oriented movies because of her daughter, I don't think even she realizes how amazing she was playing this role...She was completely foul mouthed and hot tempered, but her timing and attitude was fantastic..I recently realized how this movie is and has been potential for cult classic....Reese Witherspoon never mentions this movie in any interviews and I wish she would because I would like to hear her thoughts on playing Vanessa Julia Lutz...

This film is somewhat deceptive, in that the characters seem so outwardly stereotypical of the kind of the sub class of the under-educated, drug or sex addled teenagers and the people who prey on them, which makers of slasher films have doled out in the last couple of decades. But Witherspoon brings a fighting charm to the lead character, Venessa Lutz, who has just about everything bad thrown at her that a young person can have thrown at them while growing up. She survives and prevails with grittiness, will and humor. As far from an angel as you can get she becomes vigilante and enforcer of her own brand of justice to a particularly malevolent form of evil visited on by Bob Wolverton (Kiefer Sutherland) and an uncaring and unbelieving law enforcement system. It's really a small classic and should be viewed without any predjudice of youth crime. It then becomes an eloquent statement for better and more rational treatment of young offenders.

In my opinion, this was hands downs Reese Witherspoon's best role before Legally Blonde. I wished she played more roles like this, (urban, raunchy, touch, the trailer pk side wasn't bad at all neither). After watching this, You can see she has been hollyweird whitewashed (the only way to get an academy award) now. But this role in Freeway truly tells me that she has depth of character for the film industry. This is one of my oldies but goodies I've seen now more than ten times already. Hey Reese, can you bless with a role like this again? No harm in asking.

Freeway is written and directed by Matthew Bright. It stars Reese Witherspoon, Kiefer Sutherland, Dan Hedaya, Wolfgang Bodison, Brooke Shields & Brittany Murphy. Plot is darkly based around the Little Red Riding Hood fairy tale and sees young runaway Vanessa Lutz (Witherspoon) hit the road after her parents are arrested. Setting off to visit her grandmother she agrees to a lift from the kind and well spoken Bob Wolverton (Sutherland), only to find that he's not as nice as she first thought. He in turn is in for a big surprise himself since Vanessa is more than capable of looking after herself.

Twisted and richly humorous, Matthew Bright's movie oozes originality and quite frankly deserves to be better appreciated: never mind better known! Going into it for a first time completely oblivious to its structure will arguably aid the experience. Suffice to say that the less known about it prior to viewing it the better. All I have to say is that it's violent, sweary and contains very sexually explicit dialogue, so if those things are likely to offend then perhaps stay away from it. But what if I offer up that those things are dealt with a satirical bent? That the tough scenes, and some of them are very tough, are basis to a caustic narrative about social hypocrisy and the often stupidity of the law? Interested? You should be, because once viewed you're unlikely to forget it. It's no surprise to see Oliver Stone's name etched onto the production credits, since this very much feels like a dirty second cousin to his Natural Born Killers. I'd argue that here we have the better acted film with Witherspoon and Sutherland giving virtuoso performances: with admirable support coming from the likes of Bodison, Shields and Murphy.

One of the most undervalued film's of the 90s? You bet it is! 8.5/10