Reviews & Ratings for
Switchback More at IMDbPro »

Filter:

Best Chronological Prolific Authors Loved It Hated It Hide Spoilers:

Page 1 of 8:

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

Index

72 reviews in total

---

30 out of 36 people found the following review useful:
An under-rated top-notch serial killer thriller., 15 May 2001
Author: Joyce Glasser

I saw this film for the first time on late night television after returning from the cinema where I saw the disappointing 'Along Came a Spider'. There are similarities, but Switchback is by far the better film. Jeb Stuart has done a terrific job keeping us at the edge of the couch and there are very few cliches around. Danny Glover and the entire cast are just right, and all the characters, even the minor roles, are three-dimensional. The story centres on a young handsome hitchhiker picked up and befriended by the serial killer. But this is no ordinary serial killer -- he is Mr. Popularity along the mountain roads where they travel in buddy movie-fashion. But not for long. The killer isn't out to make new friends. What he is doing is cleverly framing the loner-hitchhiker (finger prints on murder weapon etc) so that the law will be searching for the hitchhiker, and not the real killer. That is the killer's modus operandi. So here we have this handsome hitchhiker with a mysterious past (a doctor who ran away) and a killer with a bloody past who is on the run. Enter an FBI agent (Dennis Quaid) who is wanted by the FBI. The FBI want Quaid off the case. But Quaid is a determined man: the serial killer, who he has tracked for 18 months, has kidnapped his son....All of these outsiders come through a small town where the local sheriff loses the election by opting to help the truant FBI agent find the real killer... Three quarters of the way through the film, everyone is chasing someone and the tension keeps mounting along with the altitude.

The killer has left a note with a cryptic clue that Dennis Quaid must decipher. But the key to his son's whereabouts lies elsewhere.....

This is a fresh breath of writing into a genre that has been abused and neglected of late. There are nice echos of our favourite films noir (...the hitchhiker, the loner, the car accident.....the guessing came about who is who...). There's a touch of The Fugitive, but not too much. On top of all the good acting, casting, plotting and suspense, there's nice atmosphere and locations in the Rockies.

---

32 out of 40 people found the following review useful:
Hokey, But Intense Man's Movie, 3 March 2006

Author: ccthemovieman-1 from United States

Wow, this is an intense story that should keep you interested for the full two hours. The five main roles are all men and they are pretty interesting, led by Danny Glover's character, who is very, very creepy.

I'm hesitant to say much about this film for fear of giving anything away for those who have not seen it. Suffice to say its a rough movie in regards to language, violence and general attitude but the story grabs you quickly and is tough to put down once you are into it.

One complaint I read said this film never made it big because it was too convoluted a storyline. In fact, the story isn't really pieced together until the last few minutes. Well, a lot of films over the years were like that (Charlie Chan and Sherlock Holmes mysteries, just to name two) and no one complained.

The fact that FBI agent Dennis Quaid would figure things out to the exact minute does stretch credibility so don't look for a film that makes a lot of sense: it's simply a very tense thriller that entertains, so it serves its purpose.

Lee Ermey, the fanatical drill sergeant in Full Metal Jacket, also is fun to watch in here. Jared Leto and Ted Levine also contribute nicely. It's a man's film, for the most part and an effective diversion for two hours.

---

16 out of 18 people found the following review useful:
A different kind of serial killer, 25 December 1998

Author: ric-29 from San Francisco

Switchback was an enjoyable mystery/thriller with a few nice action sequences. Quaid's character seemed a bit cliche to me (like he was impersonating a dour Harrison Ford) but Glover's character was unique and interesting. This movie didn't have a lot of surprises or plot twists, but director Jeb Stuart managed to keep my interest high by using well drawn and likeable characters and by keeping a lot of balls in the air from the beginning of the movie. With the exception of the serial killer himself, the conflicting motivations of the characters played well with the story and provided plenty of tension. I especially enjoyed the portrayal of the serial killer himself. This is possibly the first movie I've seen where the killer had a human face and was not a psycho mastermind genius or a low-life loner with a chip the size of Manhattan on his shoulder.

---

16 out of 23 people found the following review useful:
More character driven than usual, 27 February 1999

Author: Sean Gallagher (seankgallagher@yahoo.com) from Brooklyn, NY

As a thriller, this had some holes. For starters, Stuart identifies the killer too early (at least, I figured it out), so some tension is robbed). The postcard thing never really made any sense to me. And though it's clear who the killer is, his identity raises questions about how Quaid's son is kept without the authorities knowing. But I can forgive a lot of that because we care about the characters. Quaid, Ermey, and Glover, are three of our finest character actors, and they make us interested in their characters. Also, Ted Levine offers fine support, and Jared Leto creates mystery in his role when there wasn't a whole lot written in.

---

4 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
Dennis Quaid keeps a straight face, 3 July 2001

Author: Iansa-2

throughout this noirish thriller, and it doesn't look easy. Otherwise, the acting is fine and the story is full of interesting twists and details. Watch this film late at night, alone -- it definitely will keep you awake until the very end, when you might sit up and say Huh? No, really, it's a good film.

---

4 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
I liked it!, 2 September 1999

Author: Steven Rosburg from Napa, CA

I liked just about every aspect of this movie. The local police aren't portrayed as a bunch of inbred idiots, the killer isn't portrayed as maniacal and impersonable, and the FBI agent isn't just a suit with all the personality of a tube of toothpaste. All of these combine to make a refreshing murder mystery/thriller. This isn't the classic "who dun it?" type of murder mystery; rather, it is more in the flavor of "Silence of the Lambs", where we discover who the killer is long before the end of the movie, and the suspense comes from anticipating the hero catching the villain.

---

2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Well-Done Serial Murderer Thriller., 16 November 2008

Author: Robert J. Maxwell (rmax304823@yahoo.com) from Deming, New Mexico, USA

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Almost an oxymoron, isn't it? A well-done serial murderer story? Yet they do come along from time to time. This one isn't as innovative as "Seven," not as well observed, but it's still above average.

The killer, the affable Danny Glover, arranges to take the hitch-hiking, unwitting Jared Leto on a trip through the Colorado mountains in the middle of winter. Glover, whose identity is unknown to any social control agents, is being pursued by a local police department, R. Lee Ermey in charge, and a loose cannon FBI agent, Dennis Quaid, whose son Glover has kidnapped and stashed away somewhere.

Half the film has Glover driving his white El Dorado, festooned with pics of Playmates of the Month, through a convincingly snowy landscape. The other half deals with the reluctant cooperation between Ermey and Quaid. Ermey finally decides to throw the law books out the window and join Quaid in his personal quest. The climax brings Glover, Leto, and Quaid together in the caboose of a freight train plowing its way through a mountain pass and turns the movie into what is more or less a formulaic bang up.

Two things contribute to the quality of the film. One is the location shooting. Everything looks cold, bare, gloomy, and windswept. The landscape seems to be hibernating and waiting for spring. The other thing is Danny Glover's performance as the serial killer. He's great. A Scatman Crothers whose big grin and avuncular manner barely manage to mask the vicious psychopath beneath. Glover's character has worked these mountain passes for the railroad before. Everyone in the small towns along the route and on the job seem to know and love him -- and he's a black guy too. It says volumes about our national change in attitude that someone was willing to cast an African-American actor as a charming murderer of white people, and Glover justifies the risk that was taken.

Quaid is stolid, stuck in the humorless role of the anxious but determined father. Jared Leto can't really act at all. And there are clichés in abundance. The car that rolls off the road and hangs on the edge of a cliff while its occupants try to crawl out of the wreck. It's held up by a single tree, which cracks and allows the vehicle to plunge into the valley, while Leto hangs onto some projecting roots by his fingertips.

But it's Danny Glover who redeems the film. At the start, we only see him as an amiable guy, and only gradually do we come to suspect his identity as the killer. The first time he uses his knife, the victim is an old friend with whom he has shared his childhood. It's a truly chilling scene. Glover's friendly smile fades into a scowl while the puzzled victim simply stares back at him. Then there is Glover's death. He's knocked from a speeding train and does a series of somersaults down a snowy slope, yipping and yelling along the way, like Major Kong riding the catastrophic bomb in "Doctor Strangelove." What a job he does.

At heart, it's just another serial killer story but -- here we must all get on our knees and thank heaven for small favors -- the killer doesn't leave puzzling clues behind based on "Alice in Wonderland" or The Seven Deadly Sins or the first folio of Billy Shakespeare's works or the seven levels of Inuit hell. There's only one teasing clue, and it doesn't require a trip to the library to solve it. There's really very little gore, and no violence except for a few minutes at the end.

You'll probably like it.

---

2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Good acting; lots of action; predictable ending, 3 February 2001

Author: Will_Sperling from United States

Dennis Quaid and Danny Glover did a decent job in their character roles for Switchback. I was especially fond of R. Lee Ermey, the Sheriff, (who played the drill sergeant from Full Metal Jacket "Private Pyle; what is your major malfuction?"). Being a fan of movie music (and Basil Poledouris), the score kept right up with the action. It's too bad that it didn't do well at the box office; lots of good scenery, especially the railroad fight sequences. I'd recommend this movie to Glover, Quaid (and Ermey) fans!

---

3 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
Danny, Danny, Danny. . ., 24 June 2002
Author: rlowe30 (rlowe30@yahoo.com) from New Orleans

This movie is made from the "Thriller" Tinker Toy set. I'll guarantee you it took waaaaay more imagination and creativity to get this dog made than it did to think up the story. Talented actors who must have been desperate for work do their best, but when your best looks this bad in the hands of the makers, how could you help but get discouraged knowing that THIS clunker would be on your film record for the forseeable future? My condolences, Danny Glover, Dennis Quaid, Jared Leto, Lee Emery, and Keith Hatten.

---

3 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
Needs More Training, 5 April 2001
Author: tedg (tedg@FilmsFolded.com) from Virginia Beach

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Spoilers herein.

Pity the poor writer of detective fiction. The nature of the beast is to establish a game of wits between the reader and writer. More recently that has been mirrored in a similar battle of wits between the detective and an archenemy, often a serial killer.

Even more recently a cinematic vocabulary has developed where the killings themselves are supposed to contain clues in this grand battle. Unfortunately in translating to film, the work of detection on the part of the viewer is dropped as Hollywood doesn't like to market films that demand thought.

So the writer must turn to other devices or be left with a disaster like, say `Bone Collector.' `The Pledge' took the genre in one direction and with skill produced a fine film. Here, another direction is attempted with less success.

The device here is that the killer is an appealing fellow who cleverly uses surrogates to divert attention. We briefly are confused by his most recent partner, but way too soon all is made clear.

It is also a tradition with mysteries that some unfamiliar slice of life is employed in the setting and perhaps the clues. Here, the device is the western rail system. although all sorts of possibilities are there to be mined, we are reduced to simple use of fights on a speeding train.

Alas. Great possibilities are ignored all throughout, and we are given cliches: for instance the old cat-jumping-out trick at the beginning and the old spike-through-the-bad-guy at the end.

---

---

Page 1 of 8:

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

Add another review

---

Related Links

Plot summary	Ratings	Newsgroup reviews
External reviews	Plot keywords	Main details
Your user reviews	Your vote history