Killer trucks!!
Starring: Timothy Busfield, Brenda Bakke, Jay Brazeau, Aidan Devine
Link to IMDB
Stephen King's Maximum Overdrive is pretty bad, but it's also a great classic B-movie that everyone should see and appreciate. A remake came along 11 years later, so let's take it for a test drive.
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| Ray, as skeptical about this remake as everyone else. |
Ray and his son Logan run a service station out in the Nevada countryside, not too far from the infamous Area 51. Ray's friend Hope is a guide for the UFO tourists that pass through the area, and she has a new group arriving today, consisting of an old hippy dude and an ex-military man with his obnoxious daughter. In short, we meet a bunch of people and we don't care about any of them.
There are some angry trucks driving around, taking out the phone lines and running people off the road, but the threat of "killer trucks" takes a while to fully establish itself.
Panic, confusion and uncertainty arise... And that was just my reaction! The characters in the movie fair a bit better, because they're mostly just worrying about their personal problems and family drama. The movie is teasing us with boring truck driving and even more boring humans, where's all the killing and mayhem!?
Finally, after about 40 minutes, everyone gets to Ray's station to try to call for help, but they are soon trapped there as a group of merciless trucks surround them. There are a few scenes showing us what's happening in nearby communities, and this is where the movie really goes wonderfully overboard. You want to see a hazmat suit come alive and kill? You got it! How about a psycho radio controlled truck? Holy shit, yes! These vignettes are masterpieces of absurdity!
Things are heating up at the station, too, as the trucks display their intelligence and that they will kill anyone that gets in their path. Ray, Hope and the rest of the group are going to need to form a plan if they want to attempt fighting back against the trucks!
Abby: "Trucks don't drive themselves, okay!"
Jack: "Maybe it just wanted some company."
Sometimes Trucks is so over-the-top preposterous that I was either laughing my ass off or left speechless in amazement. The directing and editing choices are very peculiar at times, pushing it into a realm of chaos that is much appreciated. But just as often, it's bogged down with human drama that takes itself way too seriously. By the end I decided that the only parts that really made any sense were the parts of complete nonsense! I was then left with the monumental task of trying to wrap my mind around the stunning ending while still chuckling at the sheer audacity of it all.
Overall, Maximum Overdrive remains better, while Trucks is a more dramatic and honest effort at adapting the short story, but still has enough laughs and explosions to keep it trucking along at a fast pace.
Be sure not to miss:
- The guy trapped in the freezer truck never gets out. I kept picturing him just being tossed around in there like a frozen popsicle the whole movie.
- Is the diner's television made of wood? Cardboard?
- This was actually made as a pilot for a TV series! Imagine if that got made!
Internet review:
"An absurdly bad movie, but also a gift to the human race that must never be taken back." - Brasier
Should I watch it?
Yes, worth seeing for the great laughs.
Where can I find it?
I used the vidzi link here.
Trucks gets...
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