Stephen Spielberg's debut film 'Duel', about a man who inadvertently offends a truck driver, is still one his best, leaner than most of his subsequent work and none the worse for it. More than thirty years later comes John Dahl's 'Rodakill', a film occupying very similar territory, but in no way superior to its predecessor. Dahl is actually quite good at handling the action scenes, but his film is a bit cruder, a bit more over-the-top, and a considerably less plausible than Spielberg's masterpiece (the truck, for example, seems to have a tighter turning circle than a running human!) 'Roadkill' is still possessed of a certain gut power; but less, in the case of this comparison, is definitely more.
Review of Joy Ride
