A DOSE OF TERROR: SCENIC ROUTE
Two lifelong friends are driving through the desert; they are both at different points in their lives and have strong opinions on each other’s life decisions. Carter (Dan Fogel) stages a break down in order to have some quiet time and force a conversation with Mitchell (Josh Duhamel). The idea quickly backfires and things begin to go downhill, rather quickly, and violently. What follows is a string of bad choices and the guys coming to terms with their friendship.
Simple premise, yet very effective. You could tell these guys are really close to each other, yet not exactly the best of friends as they once were. The tension that builds from the beginning never stops until the final few moments of the film, I constantly found myself telling the guys “come on!” whenever help arrived, or they did something to ruin their chances or rescue.
Most of the time these guys are arguing with each other, Carter is a failing writer, who lives out of his car, but seems to think he is qualified to give Mitchell life advice. Mitchell is married with a good job and a kid, but isn’t happy what so ever, this is evident after confessing an affair he had quite recently. As he opens up to Carter, things begin to get heated and an all-out war breaks out between them. There are points of reconciliation, though, but not without paying a price. The transformation of Mitchell is quite drastic, as Carter remains the same throughout. Neither of them are exactly happy with their lives, but Mitchell is the one who decides that he needs a change.
There are some comedic elements to this, but not many, and they’re all from Carter. You can’t help feel sorry for him after all the things these guys go through, they try to make the best out of it for the first day or so, but things degrade rather quickly once potential rescue comes and goes. There are four separate instances where they could be helped out, but manage a way to screw it up.
I was pleased with this one; Duhamel gave a really good performance and completely stole the show. To give an idea of the transformation of his character, just take a look at the screen shots I provided.
GRADE
Violence – C
Realism – A
Suspense – A
Petemc
November 19, 2013 @ 11:31 pm
I love fogler. I may have to check this one out