On their cross-country drive, a married couple, Jeff and Amy Taylor, experience car trouble after their SUV breaks down. Stranded in the New Mexico desert, the two catch a break when a passing truck driver offers Amy a ride to a nearby café to call for help. Meanwhile, Jeff is able to fix the car and make his way to the café, but Amy isn't there. He tracks down the trucker ― who tells the police he's never seen Jeff or his wife before. Jeff then begins a desperate, frenzied search for Amy.
[Kurt Russell's] lack of energy afflicts the film as much as its director's lack of ideas.
– Stephen Hunter,
Washington Post,
7 May 2003
fresh:
A taut suspense film.
– Jeff Strickler,
Minneapolis Star Tribune,
6 Nov 2002
rotten:
A long, drawn-out bore where the fate of each character is all-but-inscribed on his or her forehead.
– James Berardinelli,
ReelViews,
1 Jan 2000
fresh:
Many will note echoes of 'The Vanishing,' 'Deliverance' and most of all, Steven Spielberg's 'Duel,' with Mostow displaying much of the craft that Spielberg ambushed us with in the 1971 TV movie that put him on the map.