Exit Speed

It's Christmas in Texas. Military Police Archie Sparks (Fred Ward) is hunting AWOL Corporal Meredith Cole (Julie Mond). She escapes and boards a bus with a variety of passengers. The bus is harassed by a passing biker gang. One of the bikes fall over and the bus runs over it. The biker starts shooting killing the bus driver and others. They manage to kill the biker but the rest of his friends come looking for revenge. They drive into an isolated scrap yard and must fend off the criminals.

The story is thin and worthy of any number of B-movies. It's not that believable in the age of cell phones and interconnectivity. The whole movie isn't that realistic. The biker gang seems more like central casting rejects. It's a cross between Mad Max 2 and Home Alone. The junk yard is stock full of MacGyver material. There is some cat-and-mouse stuff in the night. It does have some fun 80s action. There are some solid actors here doing it for the paychecks.

All along, I felt like I was watching a classic B-lister from a previous decade. A good one, entertaining, with atmosphere and character. Well written (which is rare enough nowadays), well acted... The pleasure taken translates into my note, a solid 7/10.

Then I watched that extra on the DVD, the making of, and I couldn't believe how tiny the budget actually was. Plus, they were cursed with bad weather all along their three days filming, forcing them to be even more clever to hide any signs of rain on the film. Well, if true, and I have no reason to disbelieve, then all I can say is bravo! If I was to rate according to budget, this one would deserve a 10.

I just saw a screening of Exit Speed, and without giving away any spoilers, all i can say is WOW! it gave me an adrenaline rush... kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time! and I'm not even usually a fan of action movies, i just happened to know someone working on it.

Im not sure if this is going to have a national release, but if it comes out near you, it would be well worth your time!

I suppose there were a few things that could have been done differently, but I don't even remember at this point.

Overall, I thought it was great, considering it had a (considerably) low budget. I look forward to more 'Stokes/Ziel' movies in the future!

Let me start off by saying that it blew away all my expectations. The trailer looked good so I picked it up expecting yet another low budget, straight-to-DVD action flick with small appearances by a couple of semi-recognizable stars (Fred Ward, Tremors; Lea Thompson, Back to the Future). Big mistake; this movie was so much more.

This was not your standard action movie. The characters start out as one dimensional cardboard cut-outs that all find themselves on the same bus to El Paso (ex-GI chick with mysterious past, angry coach, horny teen, artsy chick, foreign guy, worried mom... you get the idea). But when the action picks up and situations start to arise, each character shows a second or third dimension. Seriously, even people who die early on become more than just cardboard cut-outs. Props to the screenwriter and director for creating such great characters.

Another great thing about this movie is its strong female characters. There are no damsels in distress who need to be saved here. Every woman, in her own way, is an absolute bad*ss. I'll even go as far as to say that there is a character in this movie who ranks among Ripley and Sarah Connor in the most bad*ss woman in cinema category.

If I have to nag about something, though, it's the pacing. There are a couple of long stretches in this movie where little to no action happens, but I guess that's where character development fills in nicely.

I'll end by saying I recommend this movie to anyone who loves a good action and that this movie deserves a much higher rating than its current 5.0/10.

Exit Speed was an interesting movie. It seemed like something that would come on a Saturday afternoon in the late 70's. I thought in the beginning , what in the world is this gonna be about because I refuse to read the back of the box (so to say) I like to be taken by surprise and with this choice I was. It keep you watching and rooting for the good guys.

To put a small synopsis there for you I will say that it was about passengers on a bus that was kidnapped and thru their strengths, weakness, talents, and idiosyncrasies, they band together to survive this crack smoking, nose piercing, biker group from Hell.

I liked it and I think you will too.