The Hitcher (2007)

Regisseur:

Dave Meyers

Drehbuchautoren (WGA):

Eric Red (screenplay) and
Jake Wade Wall (screenplay) ...

Premierendatum:

19. Januar 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Horror | Thriller

Werbezeile:

Never pick up strangers.

Plot:

While driving through the New Mexico Desert during a rainy night, the college students Jim Halsey and...

Plot Keywords:

Villain Played By Lead Actor | Switchblade | Truck Stop | Vulgarity | Falsely Accused

Filmpreise:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Nutzerkommentare:

Talentless Rubbish.

US TV Schedule:

Tue. July 29

4:30 AM

HBO

Besetzung

Sean Bean	...	John Ryder
Sophia Bush	...	Grace Andrews
Zachary Knighton	...	Jim Halsey
Neal McDonough	...	Lt. Esteridge
Kyle Davis	...	Buford's Store Clerk
Skip O'Brien	...	Sheriff Harlan Bremmer Sr.
Travis Schuldt	...	Deputy Harlan Bremmer Jr.
Danny Bolero	...	Officer Edwards
Jeffrey Hutchinson	...	Young Father
Yara Martinez	...	Beth
Lauren Cohn	...	Marlene
Michael J. Fisher	...	Transport Guard #2 (as Mike Fisher)
Joseph Michael Self	...	Transport Guard #1
Brad Robinson	...	Correctional Officer
Kurt Grossi	...	Officer Franklin

Alternativ:

The Hitcher (Deutschland) [de]

MPAA:

Rated R for strong bloody violence, terror and language.

Länge:

84 Min | Croatia:90 Min

Produktionsland:

USA

Sprache:

Englisch

Farbe:

Farbe (Technicolor)

Seitenverhältnis:

2.35 : 1

Tonverfahren:

Dolby Digital | DTS

Altersfreigabe:

USA:R (certificate #39360) | UK:18 | Hong Kong:IIB | Australia:R | Singapore:NC-16 (edited version) | Ireland:16 (re-rating on appeal) | Singapore:M18 | Germany:18 | South Korea:18 | Finland:K-18 (uncut) | Canada:18A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba) | Norway:15 | Philippines:R-13 (MTRCB) | Ireland:18 (original rating) | Brazil:16 | Portugal:M/18 | Malaysia:18PL | UK:15 (re-rating, cut) | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Germany:16 (cut) | Canada:16+ (Quebec) | Argentina:16 | Japan:R-15

Drehorte:

Austin Studios - 1901 E. 51st Street, Austin, Texas, USA

Firma:

Focus Features

Dies und das:

The movies that Grace are watching in the hotel near the end are North by Northwest (1959) and The Birds (1963).

Pannen:

Abfolgefehler: When Jim is eating his hot dog outside the gas station, the size of it keeps changing from smaller to bigger between shots.

Dialogzitate:

John Ryder: I can't...

Bezüge zu anderen Titeln:

Verweist auf/spielt an auf/erwähnt Psycho (1960)

Soundtrack:

From Here I Can Almost See the Sea

Talentless Rubbish.

Well, this must prove that what Michael Bay knows about good film-making could safely fit up a gnat's backside. 'Pearl Harbour' and 'Armageddon' were stinkers but this goes much further. Not only is it unimaginative, poorly acted, predictable and generally repugnant, it's also made by people who had not even the slightest idea of how to mount a suspenseful thriller. It's, in fact, mounted with mind-boggling incompetence.

I loved the original 'Hitcher'. It might not have been a classic, but it was a tidy, original and well paced thriller that delivered a number of really shocking moments. Not only that, it boasted Rutger Hauer's career best performance. He out-did every on-screen baddie that had gone before with his portrayal of John Ryder. He was the perfect embodiment of menace and one of the most truly terrifying madmen ever to hit the screen.

For all his talents as an actor, Sean Bean did not deliver. Look at 'Essex Boys' or 'Fools Gold' to see that he can do over-the-top evil very well, but subtle, manipulative and coldly calculating is not really his forte. Mind you, compared to everyone else involved in this rubbish, he was positively outstanding.

The main character's boyfriend was an irritating, whiny and woodenly played dimwit and the girl simply a 2 dimensional plot device and not someone you could truly root for.

Where this film raises its repellent stink however is in the totally over-the-top nastiness. The first scene, where a rabbit is splattered by a passing car is simply unnecessary and sets the tone for the rest of the film. It has nothing new or interesting to add to the original film so it simply piles on buckets of blood and goes all out to disgust the audience.

What shows up the total clueless incompetence of those involved though is the way the film is constructed. They missed the atmosphere of the original and simply hung together a number of scenes, some directly lifted from the 1986 version and just 'splattered up' without thinking about logic or plotting. Shocks are telegraphed with appalling predictability and everything can be seen coming a mile away. It's almost as if the director and writer went ahead with only the loosest knowledge of how to make a movie because the result is proof that they didn't have the foggiest idea of what they were doing.

That Michael Bay was the producer of this witless farrago comes as no surprise. He's never shown much subtlety in his 'productions' and very little idea or story or character but even he must be truly embarrassed by this. Hollywood re-makes generally stink (with the exception of Guy Ritchie's remake of 'Mean Machine') but this one plumbs new depths and must be one of the worst. The only consolation I can take from the 90 minutes I wasted with this tripe is that I saw it as an in-flight movie and was therefore free. Had I paid money to watch this, I'd be really angry now. I've seen plenty of crap films in my time but rarely have I taken against one as badly as I have with this.

A perfect example of talentless, soulless, clueless imitation from people with nothing to say.