Don't Believe the Hype

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Jim (Zachary Knighton) and Grace (Sophie Bush) are college kids going away for spring break. They reluctantly pick up John Ryder (get it) played by Sean Bean. John is a psycho and carnage is spread throughout New Mexico.This is a me-too hitchhiker film which differentiates itself at about 50 minutes into the film as cop cars flip over to the tune of NIN. The gas station stop gave us signs of cleverness and indeed the acting and lines were better than many "B" horror films, but the film needed to go beyond better than most to earn high honors in a crowded genre. John Ryder needed to be a distinct colorful character and wasn't.Guide: 38 F-words by IMDb count. No sex or nudity.

Have you seen it? No? There is likely a very good reason for that...it stinks.Like nearly ALL the endless remakes and reboots that have been plaguing movie goers for the past decade or so....all this is, is a heartless version of the original.It has no heart.It has no soul.It is a retelling of a film that we all love and cherish...and it adds nothing to the story. It improves nothing but the special effects--which held up very well over time--and in some cases belittles the fans of the original...particularly in the fact that they remade the movie at all, without adding anything clever to it.Like so many other remakes it is a hallow shell of the original.

Two twenty-somethings decide to leave college for spring break; of all things it involves driving a muscle car. How exactly are these 'children' capable of getting a car which is nearly forty years prior and nearly a collector car? Regardless, they are well onto their way when they run across a man standing in the middle of the road; they nearly hit him and then decide to go about their business without offering assistance. They pull into a gas station and then the man from before appears – he managed to get a lift from a passing trucker. He asks for a ride from the kids and then all goes downhill from there – turns out he is a psychopath.The rest of the film is spent with the two protagonists narrowly avoiding runins with the psychopath. Eventually trying to help out more of the psycho's victims turns into a runin with the cops and they end up in jail; the psychopath promptly turns around and kills all of the cops. Now the state patrol is after them.The movie does not let up as a suspenseful thriller; nor does it stop with the near clashes between the protagonists, antagonist and police as they all get thrown together on a roller-coaster. The question is – who wins in the end?The movie is just plain sadistic, and at points like a horror movie. This really is a thriller at its finest and I do recommend it to others.Originally posted to Orion Age (http://www.orionphysics.com/? p=10228).

I am a HUGE fan of the original Hitcher so I approached this with a lot of caution especially given how so many reviews were slamming it. But I think people are being overly harsh here. This is a terrifically shot & directed little movie. The lead actors all do well and there is great action & suspense throughout. I was very impressed with the cinematography especially in the first half. There were some especially clever & 'beautiful' (tho slightly gory) sequences involving animals and insects. I can see why they made the changes they did and while they take away a lot from the original story by introducing a couple instead of just the lone "hero" it's actually got it's own appeal. On the down side, the music they used was mostly inappropriate unfortunately, more suited to a romantic drama than a thriller and completely ruined the mood. One exception - I thought the NIN track worked beautifully when that came in. Similarly sinister music in the rest of the flick would have been a lot better than the MTV fluff they seemed to run with. Apart from anything else, if you use the latest top 10 songs as your musical score you end up dating the movie very quickly.The ending could have been done better - it seemed a bit unrealistic - perhaps a little less "super-heroic" and more damage to the hero would have been in order. But apart from the above few niggles, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. It's not quite as good as the original but who cares really? And it's good in it's own right. I also liked that they didn't make the female lead useless and pathetic & that neither of the two acted like morons. Their actions were perfectly logical and believable in the circumstances they found themselves in. Not always the wisest decisions were made but that's realistic & understandable for two traumatised college kids & if the characters didn't take the wrong path occasionally there'd be no story now would there!!Oh and there's nowhere near as much "gore" as people have suggested. There's a bit of blood & guts but nothing too outrageous. Very tame in that respect compared to many other horror flicks I've seen. Altho there was one scene where I was wise enough to look the other way at the crucial point. Unless you're hard core I'd recommend you do the same!! LOL You'll know what I mean when you get there.Don't look at this flick as a remake of a classic and set it up to fail no matter how good it is. Just watch it as a movie in it's own right and I guarantee you WILL enjoy it. It's 100x better than most of the rubbish around lately. My actual vote is somewhere around the 6 mark as I think it's an above average action/horror movie but not brilliant. But I've rated it higher to make up for the mean-spirited and unjust low ratings this is getting from many people. :)