Midnight Ride

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.

This film has one warning, and one warning only: Do not under any circumstances ever pick up any hitchhikers!! "Midnight Ride"

is a cool action/suspence movie since "Frantic", even though it's practically a forgotten film. Michael Dudikoff is Lawson, a cop who is trying to rescue his estranged wife Lara (Savina Gersak) from a psycho named Justin, played brilliantly by Mark Hamill. Lawson tracks down Justin, who beats up the cop constantly, until the final showdown in a hospital. Hamill is awesome in this film, which is really a change of pace for the former Luke Skywalker. The only problem with this movie is Dudikoff, who has a cardboard-stiff performance that makes you root for the bad guy!

"Midnight Ride" is a film about a psychopath who is picked up while hitchhiking. This alone is very hard to believe. Why would a woman who is running away from her bully husband stop to pick up a strange man? And, when she has the chance to escape once she realizes he's dangerous, why wouldn't she run? And, when she does run, why doesn't she get the police? Yes, I know the husband is also a cop...but at least stop at a fire station, town hall, shopping mall, or McDonald's to get help???? And, why would the husband who is out looking for her bother to stop and then pick up the guy? Sure, he's a cop and the guy in the middle of the road looks like he's in trouble, but the cop is off duty and looking for his runaway wife! And, when two cars collide, why would they explode like the cars are filled with 20 tons of TNT (in real life, cars very rarely explode)? The bottom line is that there is enough plot here to make a 30 minute TV episode...but stretching it out to feature film length just exposes the many, many, many plot problems.

Now I am NOT saying the film is 100% bad. Mark Hamill plays a ridiculous villain....but he plays him well and with glee...almost like when he's voicing the Joker in Batman cartoons! Hamill fans might really enjoy seeing this...and I thought his acting was fun. But the movie, otherwise, makes little sense. My only reason to see it was to see Robert Mitchum in a supporting role but sadly it sure takes a while to see him in the movie. Overall, a really dumb film that manages to entertain even if the writing simply makes little sense.

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.

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.