Road to Hell (2008)

User Rating:

8.8/10   

Director:

Albert Pyun

Writer:

Cynthia Curnan (written by)

Genre:

Thriller

Plot:

A soldier who has been fighting a long war is driven mad because he no longer believes in any purpose or righteous truth behind the killing...

Cast

Michael Paré	...	Cody
Clare Kramer	...	Caitlin
Courtney Peldon	...	Ashley
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Anita Leeman	...	Ellen
Lauren Sutherland	...	McCoy
Deborah Van Valkenburgh	...	Sister

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Filming Locations:

Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Filmwerks

Movie Connections:

Follows Streets of Fire (1984)

A true 1/10, A plot less and profane exhibit of violence against women, jeeps

I saw this film earlier this month with Michael Pare and its makers in attendance. They all got up on stage before the film started, and it is amazing in retrospect how enthusiastic they were about this "unofficial sequel" to Streets of Fire, which we had all just watched Before RtH began. Road to Hell is an experimental film at best, and that's being kind. The cut we saw was just under an hour, so it was too long to be a short and too short to be a feature. It was entirely green screened, and lots of the shots came off looking like poorly constructed car commercials or automotive trade show sets, as nearly every shot in this "movie" centered around a jeep. The Jeep looked too new, as if they lacked the budget to rough up a Jeep for the production and used their own daily driver instead. Also, it's difficult to tell when you watch this whether there are two different jeeps or just one--did Tom Cody have his own Jeep in addition to the female lead's Jeep? I couldn't tell. The dialog was laced with f-bombs to the point of absurdity, and there is a needless and inexplicable exploration of violence against women which appears to me to be completely incongruous with the Tom Cody character. Mind you that I'm not in the least squeamish when it comes to seedy characters--I think Bukowski is great literature. In this case it's just that the makers of Road to Hell have only invested about 5 percent of whatever scant talent they have in this production. I give a 1/10 very rarely, but this film really does make another 1/10, No Holds Barred, look like Citizen Kane.