The Road Killers

After a young boy is almost run over by a maniac on a highway, a re-encounter and confrontation by the boy's father with the driver sets off conflicts with a car full of maniacs.

Okay, so the opening credits are just a tad too long. And the Netflix version is full screen, despite the fact it is known the film was shot in widescreen (like most films). But let us look past these nitpicks.

What we get is a fun film with a solid cast: Christopher Lambert, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, David Arquette, Josh Brolin, Christopher McDonald. Some (like Arquette) part of the 90s zeitgeist, and some (like Brolin and Gordon-Levitt) who had yet to fully bloom. In retrospect, from 2015, this not only exemplifies the sort of videos that were fun to rent in the 90s, but provides a nice glimpse of some talented folks early in their careers.

The other reviews are correct that this movie bears some resemblance to 'The Hitcher' or other movies that take place on the highway and involve brutality and murder. But I think what a lot of the reviews fail to acknowledge is the humor, dark comedy, and other virtues this film has to offer. I think it's a movie that improves with time because stylistically it now feels classically dated and rugged in an early 1990's sort of way that is mostly lost in modern films, although 'No Country for Old Men' touches on a similar style, as do Robert Rodriguez films. It's a satisfying movie because the pacing is good, the acting is good with at times excellent characterization, and there is a fair amount of drama that is actually quite compelling. It leads to a certain amount of excitement that isn't ever boring, and it makes for a good "guy" movie; the sort of film that if you don't take it too seriously, offers a certain likability of the joking villains and a general lightness, recklessness, and irreverence. Overall it can be a quite enjoyable experience to watch.

Every now and again when I am drunk I stumble upon this film again. It is pretty fun. I like it. It is not great by any means but it is fun. A good Saturday afternoon movie.

STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All Costs

It's a shame,'cos another collaboration between Christopher Lambert and director Deran Sarafian by the name of Gunmen was one I found to be very enjoyable.I've heard one or two people criticize Chris's acting ability.This is unjustified.He's okay,it's just,like all actors,he picks bad scripts sometimes.This being one of them.

In fact,the majority (if not all) of the film's faults can be found in the script,because it's so badly written,not least because we find it so hard to offer any empathy to Christopher McDonald's duh-duh father character,who's such a caring dad he lets his son wonder out into the road unsupervised in the first place,never mind the 'bad guys' who,though kind of going a little too fast,were on an open road with not much traffic visibly in front of them.Just to stare at a bloody flower as well!You're gonna be seeing a lot more of them in your life kid,believe me.And what was with that girl bad guy,wondering around with an umbrella like she was in a Legal & General advert or something?

One to disappear without a trace into the confines of DTV hell,me thinks.*

Road Flower, Road Flower. A neat name, evocative and enigmatic, it just doesn't quite hook you in. Centred on a family travelling through the desert who p!ss off some travelling scumbags and end up in all sorts of trouble, it's a fun b grade joint with a few rewards for those with the patience for this kind of thing. And worth noting that this is one of those little seen b pictures that appear to have an eclectic cast through the passage of time, with Michelle Forbes, Josh Brolin, David Arquette and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, all of which have gone on to some kind of wider fame. Gordon-Levitt doesn't make much of an impression here, probably since he was pretty young at the time, but Brolin and Arquette both do well, with the latter being an infinity less irritating than he was in the Scream franchise despite here playing what on paper should be a very irritating character indeed, a sort of dopey idiot savant type in thrall to the main baddie, a wonderfully snarling and maniacal Craig Sheffer. Brolin is a conscience of sorts to the general villains, and pretty sympathetic too, off centre enough to be a little creepy, but with a scared likability to him. The nominal lead here is Christopher Lambert, who is pretty wooden, not especially good but has a certain presence, watchable enough. The film is at its best when dealing with its antagonists though, and the writing is often pretty entertaining, some dialogue made me chuckle out loud and I was generally smiling, there are even one or two surprises in amongst the formulaic set up too. The film moves at a smart pace, looks pretty nice and is even intermittently stylish, too many punches are pulled in terms of the violence but it still muster effective tension, it's a pretty fun ride while it lasts. Director Deran Sarafian clearly knows his way around this sort of film but the action is sometimes irritatingly edited and the film is too skewed in favour of its villains for the audience to feel much for the imperilled family. The directors dad Richard (Vanishing Point) pops up briefly and brother Tedi wrote the script, so its kind of a Sarafian family picnic. This film sure ain't a patch on Vanishing Point though. Anyhoo, this is worth a look if it turns up on late night TV or any other time where you have nothing better to do. Won't change anyones world, but it is kinda cool at times. 6/10 or something.