Rage (2010)

"SPIELBERG'S DUEL MEETS HALLOWEEN" - screen spotlight"SENSATIONAL HORROR FILM-MAKING AT ITS FINEST!" - horror unlimited.comSounds good doesn't it?First off, it don't come close to Duel or Halloween. Secondly, I switched it off after 29 minutes.The lead actor is OK. Most of the other actors appear to be friends of friends. The audio has a quality epic feel, but feels really misplaced. Blame it on the director, camera- man, editor, there's something amiss with it. It feels like it was made by someone who probably spent some time in film school. An intermediate.Edit: I did bother to see it through to the end. It took some effort to do so, and no, the film does not improve.

This movie has an interesting premise which made me want to watch it. Unfortunately, the budget, story, acting and skills involved in it's making fell short.Rage reminds me of a mix between The Room and Birdemic in it's execution.The Acting is bland and at times annoying, with a few exceptions. The main protagonist is an unlikable character, with no redeeming qualities. I found myself rooting for the antagonist throughout, with the exception of the protagonist's wife, who seems likely to be the only one in the movie with anything between her ears. Worth a watch if you are inclined to liking bad movies, and/or want a movie to make fun of and laugh at, while picking it apart.

Rage sets out to be a remake of Steven Spielberg's all-time classic Duel, very lofty ambitions indeed.The first problem is the makers of Rage did not have the money or skills to make a road movie. So we have a guy on a bike and a guy in a car navigating the roads of Portland. Then the camera shakes as the bike 'hits' the car, just one example of many laughably poor scenes.As a road movie is out then Rage becomes a low-budget and pretty pointless horror movie, as a remake of Duel it falls way, way short of the mark.If you want to see a great revenge style movie then watch Duel, if you want to watch something nowhere near as good with less style and pointless killing then watch this.

Dennis Twist (Rick Crawford) is about to have the worst day of his life. After a seemingly minor confrontation with a motorcyclist over the availability of a parking spot, an increasingly violent response follows. A response that will draw suspicion, blood and eventually death in Chris Witherspoon's 2010 film, Rage. The idea behind the altercation between Dennis and is unnamed antagonist is as innocent as it is commonplace. How many times have you waiting for a parking spot only to have someone wheel right in? The difference between our encounters and that to which Dennis meets is that most irate motorists might stop at a flipping of the bird or honking the horn. But the mysterious motorcyclist will take his frustration to the next level. He will follow and torment Dennis in public washrooms to his own home in order to exact some kind of unequal revenge for the slight. Dennis believes he knows the person behind the helmet that is tormenting him. Dennis has been unfaithful to his wife and he believes that the motorcyclist is an acquaintance of the woman to which he was having an affair. It was an interesting plot development that added a thin layer of mystique, but I don't think the audience was as fooled as Witherspoon (who also wrote the screenplay) intended. Things escalate gradually until they go off the rails once the Biker follows Dennis home. Invading the Twist abode, the Biker takes his violence to the next level by savagely assaulting Dennis and his wife. A prying neighbor also gets into the mix and is met with the bloodiest fate of the independent cast. Rage was one of those small entertaining movies that got us to the edge a few times but couldn't push us over. Writer/director Chris Witherspoon doesn't have a lengthy resume, but his directing talents were on full display with impressive framing shots and some coloring techniques (sequences in black and white) that showed both a confidence and a playfulness behind the camera. The acting is relatively strong. The Biker has no dialogue so the movie rests on the shoulders of Rick Crawford and he is competent in the protagonist role. Without words (or even a face) to go with our villain, it was hard to connect with his motivation. Why he would resort to a small chainsaw in a scene that I would title 'Collateral Damage' was a bit of a stretch, but we were still appreciative of the blood spillage and the distraction from the main target. Over the course of a year, we screen countless independent film sent to us with producer's intention of promoting the flick – hopefully with a favorable review. Some films we are kinder to than others, but Rage needs no coddling. It is a proficient and capable film that was low key and dark in nature punctuated by some moments of incredible unease (the bedroom scene was particularly well done). That means we can easily recommend Rage and we hope to have not heard the last from director Chris Witherspoon.