Les Roues de la mort

Distraught after the hooligans who killed his mother and sisters avoid conviction thanks to a heartless judge, a young rig driver designs a monster truck to enact revenge in this action film from Canada. The film gets off to a slow start with nearly half the duration elapsing before the trucker designs the machine, but the tension never ceases once it goes into action. The vehicle is a remarkable feat of imagination with flame throwers and a giant drill, plus the wheels of a tractor, and it is startling to watch it crush other cars (like a tank), break through walls and run people over. If all this sounds over-the-top, it is because it is, but no matter, such exaggerations fit in well with the film thematically, which is about a young man reacting in the most extreme way he knows to an adverse situation. Quality supporting turns (from Ned Beatty as the hooligans' father and Lawrence Dane as the protagonist's father) help matters too, and the film has a few acute things to say about the risks of working for scumbags - something that his father tells him is necessary, but something that also leads to the demise of half his family. The film may have worked better with the hooligans being fleshed out in further depth (they are pretty much interchangeable) but no doubt half of the film's audience will come from those in it for the truck, which is indeed great even if it only appears somewhat late.

Rolling Vengeance (along with The Pit) is one the most unintentionally hilarious flicks I've ever witnessed. Don Michael Paul plays Joey Russo, a young trucker whose entire family is killed by Ned Beatty's idiot offspring. This is what I think happened: After Beatty was raped in Deliverance, these are the b*****d children he went on to have. Beatty is the highlight of the film, next to the monster truck, but I'll get to that in a moment. He absolutely cracks me up and he's way over the top with his all black outfit, leather jacket, slicked back hair, and one tooth missing. He's ridiculous. Back to the story, Joey decides to take revenge on the ultimate hillbillies in one of the most extreme ways ever. He constructs a monster truck of epic proportions, it's Bigfoot on steroids and it wreaks major havoc on the rednecks from hell. Check this one out if you like your cheese thick and your corn corny.

I *loved* this film. It's a classic, universal story -- the story of a young man named Joey whose entire family is killed by Ned Beatty's mentally retarded offspring. Unable to cope with his feelings of loss and helplessness, Joey makes a decision we can all sympathize with. He builds a gigantic, flame-spouting tank with 7' tires and proceeds to take revenge on those who have wronged him, as well as their vehicles and buildings.

The vehicle itself is impressive -- it's not just a pickup truck on huge tires, it's a wholly scrap-built "Mad Max" battlewagon. It carries a gigantic retractable drill/metal cutter on its front bumper, apparently scavenged from some gratuitously suggestive metal-rendering machinery. There's a great scene involving the drill, a drainage pipe, and the protaganist's girlfriend that conjures echoes of Tetsuo, the Iron Man.

The thing that surprised me most was the acting. Let me make this clear -- the script is awful, a tissue-thin vehicle intended to carry the film from one scene of gasoline-fueled mayhem to the next. Yet, this cast of mostly unknown actors all rise far above the occasion, adding unexpected dimension to a movie that's really all about the sound of crunching metal and breaking glass. Ned Beatty, the sole recognizable name in the lineup, delivers a stellar performance as an aging greaser and single parent, trying to protect his quasi-legal business interests and his fetal-alcohol-syndrome afflicted bastard children as they are crushed one by one under the wheels of a vengeance-crazed truck driver. Even the weepy girlfriend and the one-day-before-retirement county sherrif are played as low-key, believable characters.

So, there you have it. Rolling Vengeance -- a timeless story of tragedy, family, and monster trucks. See it with someone you love, and a case of cheap beer.

I hope that most Canadian films aren't as bad as this one. It is about a truck driver whose whole family was killed (not all at once) by a Family of Stereotypical drunk hicks who were for some reason found innocent in court. The truck driver (Instead of doing something easy like shooting them all with a shotgun)constructs a Monster truck from parts that he finds in a junk yard to avenge his family's death. This movie has no satisfaction to offer anyone, unless you like watching the hero's girlfriend get raped by inbred, gravy eating hillbillies.

Even if you are only slightly familiar with revenge movies from the 70s and 80s, then you must know the drill. A gentle, hard-working man sees his beloved family members raped and/or killed by a bunch of ruthless thugs or sneering rednecks. When subsequently the innocent are humiliated in court and the rednecks acquitted due to procedural errors or lack of evidence, the good All-American working class man's mind snaps and he turns into a stone-cold avenger.

Usually, these avenging angels arm themselves to the teeth, but trucker son Joey Russo is more creative. He builds an enormous monster truck from leftover and spare parts and literally waltzes over the redneck family that wronged him!

This "Death Wish on wheels" is very formulaic, like many other reviewers already pointed out, but it offers plenty of fun. It features annoying 80s clichés, including dreadfully romantic interludes/collages guided by sappy music, but also hilarious moments like the crushing of an entire used cars' park. The Doyle redneck family is also one you'll love to hate, with a notably awesome role for Ned Beatty as the yelling, whiskey-drinking and mashed potato throwing patriarch. Lead actor Don Michael Paul is nowadays mainly a director, and the made the very entertaining "Tremors" sequels, for example.