Road Rage Reviews

A standard-issue but well-executed road thriller like JOY RIDE (2001) looks like a masterwork in comparison with this macadam miasma, directed by veteran Sidney J. Furie. College student Jim Travis (Casper Van Dien), who's putting himself through school driving a limo, intercedes in a lover's spat on campus, little imagining that his good dead will set the stage for a deadly highway battle. Having rescued Sonia Walker (Danielle Brett) from her abusive boyfriend, football hero Bo (Joseph Griffin), Jim gallantly offers her a lift home. En route, Jim accidentally cuts off another motorist and can't believe it when the truck comes barreling after him. After several near-misses and wrong-way spins on the freeway, Jim and Sonia are happy to pull into a police station. But because the terrified couple can provide only a sketchy description of the smoky-windowed vehicle, the cops prove less than cooperative. Thinking that their pursuer has vented his spleen, Jim chauffeurs Sonia down a less-traveled road home. But Jim's relief is premature: The truck is carrying Bo — who intends to win back Sonia or finish her off — and two teammates. Even after the truck flips over, Bo doesn't cool down. Jim's limo runs out of gas, forcing him to take refuge with Sonia in the woods, where they flag down a forest service ranger (Catherine Oxenberg). Unfortunately, Bo and his jock accomplices run her down too, making Jim and Sonia witnesses to murder. Jim and Sonia appropriate the ranger's van and take off again, with Bo in relentless pursuit. The most annoying aspect of this moronic thriller is sight of its half-witted hero and heroine giggling between vehicular assaults, as though they were on a date in amusement park bumper cars.