When his SUV breaks down on a remote Southwestern road, Jeff Taylor lets his wife, Amy, hitch a ride with a trucker to get help. When she doesn't return, Jeff fixes his SUV and tracks down the trucker -- who tells the police he's never seen Amy. Johnathan Mostow's tense thriller then follows Jeff's desperate search for his wife, which eventually uncovers a small town's murderous secret.
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.
– Mike Clark,
USA Today,
1 Jan 2000
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:
A taut suspense film.
– Jeff Strickler,
Minneapolis Star Tribune,
6 Nov 2002
rotten:
[Kurt Russell's] lack of energy afflicts the film as much as its director's lack of ideas.