Review of Joy Ride (2012) by John P — 04 Dec 2013

It is movies like this it makes me wonder why they never played any C.W. McCall music. So for those who may not know this by now, but Paul Walker died last Saturday in a horrific car crash along with someone else who I already forgot his name. I always knew him as the white dude from the Fast & Furious series with Vin Diesel; however I have also remembered him in several other movies that I have seen as well and that is what this review all about today. Actually for the next four days I will review some of his other film works in honor of his memory and mostly because I need to fill the gap for fifteen more reviews in order to get to my two hundredth review. So back to the main subject at hand which is Joy Ride. A lesser known little flick that came out a month after 9/11 that Hollywood had to pull some of their movies that involve airplane crashes, hostage takeovers, New York City, etc. Pretty much this movie was originally intended for a straight to DVD release but with all of the 9/11 fiasco and movies pulled from the box offices, they decided to put this film in theaters mostly to fill in the weekend gap. And surprisingly enough it did pretty well for itself (sort of) with a number five opening weekend and making just about seven and a half million dollars. I remember watching this for the first time in theaters and it gave me a combination of chills and thrills because it has a bit of that realistic atmosphere where you do not even know what's going to happen to you when you are traveling across the country. You don't know who you are going to meet and if you happen to piss them off with a prank you are bound to get your ass hunted down on the highway. But perhaps I am getting a little ahead of myself, so let me guide you into what I really thought about the movie Joy Ride.

The first half of the movie starts off a bit slow where you see Lewis (Paul Walker) talking to his "friend" on the phone that he plans on picking her up and later picks up his deadbeat brother Fuller (Steve Zahn) at the police station. Both Paul Walker and Steve Zahn look like they had a pretty fun time when they are together as the movie begins a very slow start. Afterwards when they start making pranks at several truck drivers, with one in particular, that is when things really kick off. When these guys are being chased it is on the edge of your feet scary that the car they are driving is obviously no match for a hulking big rig that the killer truck driver was driving. This car gets beaten so badly that I think it filed a restraining order against the truck after this movie was shot. What is interesting about this film is that the killer truck driver, which you only hear throughout the CB radio, is voiced by Ted Levine but is portrayed by someone else, because we kind of see him as a fat guy that you hardly see his face at times. Leelee Sobieski is in this as well as the "friend" that Paul Walker's character picks up and her acting in this kind of falls dead at times where you don't really believe her acting. I remember that I use to like her at one point when she was making movies, but seeing her today she kind of reminds me of my stepmom which is...very weird. Another disappointing thing I would have to say is that there is a lack of gore in here as well. Sure we get to see people getting stabbed and beaten and whatnot, but there was nothing that they showed that was extreme. Like in one scene where the police took the brothers into the hospital room where they showed them a victim who had his lower jaw ripped off, but it was from a distance and unclear which made it a little disappointing to say the least. However despite some of my negatives there were a little bit more positives in here like the truck driver hitting them back with pranks of his own like sending the two brothers into a restaurant naked ordering cheeseburgers which I thought was hilarious. Also the third act and ending really paid off with one hell of an ending. Overall, like I said in the previous paragraph this movie works well by having that feel to real life if someone were to piss off a trucker, or anyone, while you and your buddy are traveling across the country because you never know who you might come into paths with in this great North American Continent. That is why I give it a solid four star rating.