Radio Killer

I went to "Joy Ride" with high expectations -- having enjoyed the work of Steve Zahn and John Dahl immensely in the past. But what I got was a poorly done by-the-numbers thriller with several numbers missing. "Joy Ride" is typical of movies these days that present a few good set-piece scenes but don't make them come together into a satisfying whole.

The problem here is almost exclusively in the script. The villain is a chillingly evil, faceless trucker who is apparently omniscient. He knows everything about his victims -- who they are, where they are at all times, even where their friends are. But how? This omniscience is never even remotely explained and makes no sense. Without even this semblance of logic, the events in the film have little context and carry little punch. If the kids in the film were dealing with a maniac who, bad as he is, has to play by the same rules of reality as everyone else, and thus can be outsmarted, the film would have some point. As it is, it's just a series of scares that quickly becomes ho-hum.

What a disappointing misuse of a great cast and a talented director. Who green lights things like this? I guess audiences are still going to see it, but they deserve much more.

The idea of this movie is actually pretty good; two teenagers do a prank call on a CB radio, but the prank turns on them. Most teenagers have probably been in a situation where they themselves made a prank call. At the very least, everyone knows about it. The film has some excellent shocks throughout the movie, and all of the 'thrilling' sequences are very intense, sometimes bordering on the extreme. The plot is pretty good, even pretty original, as far as I know. The acting is good enough. The characters are believable and their actions are understandable, most of the time. The movie has some very good cinematography and some pretty good cinematic effects. The ending, though a bit far-fetched, was the perfect way to end it, in my opinion. I couldn't have imagined a better way to end it. I recommend this to pretty much any teen who enjoys thrillers, especially the ones who like to relate to the theme and plot. Nearly every teenager in the world can in some way relate to at least one of the main characters in this film. 7/10

In "Joy Ride", two brothers (Zhan & Walker) get involved with a big rig driver over the CB radio while on the open road. They set him up as a practical joke and unleash all hell on themselves as the unseen subject of their prank, known only as "Rusty Nail", turns out to be a maniacal killer. "Joy Ride" is a well crafted thriller which methodically builds suspense while avoiding the usual gore and guts of horror flicks. With only a few plot holes, this thriller should keep most on the edge of their seats. Worth a look especially for those who enjoyed "Duel" (circa 1971) which is now circulating on cable.

Relatively a lesser known film which apparently spawned a few straight to video sequels. Joy Ride is a decent thriller with some suspense, although quite predictable at times.

The film moves at a reasonable pace and doesn't drag on too much.

The violence isn't gory or graphic and is quite tame for a film of this genre.

One of the highlights of the film is most definitely the character of the villain trucker "Rusty Nail". Although we don't necessarily see him much (only briefly near the end and for a quick few seconds), it's his voice which strengthens the performance.

Questionable scenes are regarding Rusty are how well he knew the friends. How he knew the roommate and was able to kidnap her. How he was able to pick back up the radio device and put it in their trunk. Nothing was exactly explained in the end.

Paul Walker and Steve Zahn bring in solid performance showing a fun level of chemistry.

Overall Joy Ride is a solid early 2000's teen/young adult type mystery thriller type. Yet expected a little more. It is relatively simplistic and somewhat forgettable.

After KILL ME AGAIN and RED ROCK WEST director Dahl has again made a nice good-looking, really thrilling little B-movie! He must have watched DUEL (which is still better, maybe the best S. Spielberg movie ever, and rates 10/10) and has added something here and there. The Trauma Spielberg handled in his movie is not to be found in here, but it's still and nevertheless a highly enjoyable, also well photographed movie with believable actors and a nice twisted ending (improbable, yes, but still nice). Whereas in DUEL one just had the man (Dennis Weaver is his best movie) and a truck (without the driver ever to be seen), Dahl added more characters and a more visible (actually audible) driver + police, etc, but the basic plot, people running away from mad truck/driver, is left intact. I just wish more such movies would still be made today ...