The Hitcher 4K 1986 Ultra HD 2160p

Story Movie

A serial killer hitchhikes, and this time he gets a young driver. The boy agrees to give him a ride, unaware of the danger he is putting himself in.

Review 4K Movie

Twenty years after the release of “Traveller” on movie screens, it is extremely difficult to assess it objectively. And the point here is not all in the long ago release of the picture, but in what impression the movie made on the author of these words, when he watched it for the first time, as well as what fame he earned in the days of video halls and as if cable networks. In the late 80s and early 90s, the movie was considered almost the benchmark of the thriller. Why? Very simple - then on our market got a minimum number of quality movies, but the amount of garbage beyond all imaginable limits. But even the trash looked great, because there was nothing else on offer. Largely because of this, the movie looked like manna from heaven.

The first time I went for a ride with “Putesutchik” in 1993, I was impressed by a whole train set and the same number of small carts. For an eleven-year-old kid, the suspense went beyond all imaginable limits. Fear crept somewhere deep into my soul and was in no hurry to leave. Any desire to talk to strangers the movie killed once and for all.

In 2006, of course, “The Traveler” looks different. For thirteen years I have watched a lot of thrillers of all kinds; and the more I watched such movies, the more the once benchmark of thriller was receding into the background.

Now the flaws for which the movie was criticized by critics in its time have become visible: script holes and illogic. Have you ever wondered how John Ryder managed to elude the law so many times and appear out of nowhere? The acting is also not particularly thrilling (except for Rutger Hauer, about whom more below). C. Thomas Howell looks good in the role of the maniac's victim, but he didn't show any heights. Jennifer Jason Leigh is talented at playing beautiful furniture, but with such a character it is even theoretically impossible to show acting skills.

What, of course, can not take away from the movie is Rutger Hauer. He turned out to be a maniac. Already in the first scene Hauer was enough for a few minutes, a couple of phrases and demonic green-blue eyes to make John Ryder one of the most memorable maniacs of the last twenty years. No action, a look and a couple phrases. As a result, the blood in your veins begins to slowly freeze with fear. When you see Ryder getting into someone's car, you realize that nothing will save these people.

The main problem with “The Traveler” lies in the fact that Robert Hearmon, having set the highest bar of quality in the first thirty minutes, was unable to maintain it thereafter. The first third of the movie is undoubtedly one of the best thirty minutes I've seen in the thriller genre. But then things start to fall apart. And if the second third looks quite energetic, thanks to almost non-stop car chases (I must say, filmed at a very, very decent level), then the last thirty minutes nullify everything that the director so painstakingly created before. The movie has an extremely, I'm sorry to say, stupid ending, which doesn't fit much with the rest of the movie's timing.