Rage Review

I took some time out this past week to watch indie filmmaker Chris Witherspoon's thriller Rage which was sent to me by way of DVD screener--to that end I offer my review.

We meet Dennis Twist (Rick Crawford) who begins his day ready to run what seems like a simple errand--There's nothing simple about this day though..

As we soon learn Twist's real purpose for travailing from the Portland suburbs to the city is to tell his girlfriend Anna Lodej) that he is breaking off their relationship to stay with his wife (Audrey Walker)

In a hurry to make that fateful encounter Twist takes a motorcyclist’s parking space. He did not see the biker (Withersppon) until after he finished parking. Dismissing the situation he ignores the plea of the always helmeted motorcyclist and moves on

Twist soon leans that you should "be careful who you piss off"....

Witherspoon makes absolutely no secret of the fact that Rage is heavily influenced by Steven Spielberg’s classic TV movie Duel and John Carpenter’s Halloween--and yet with that has managed to create a quite suspenseful thriller that forges its own path just the same. Quite a feat if you ask me since his influences are never far from your mind as things unfold...

As the lead Crawford displays an everyman quality--but is also able to handle the more complex parts of his character--displaying fear, courage, regret, strength, anger, and even a bit of madness as the events unfold.

As the faceless Biker, Witherspoon creates a lot of dread in the role. The best example of this-without being all spoilery here-is the men's room scene where Twist is caught with more than just his pants down by the antagonist. You can indeed cut the tension with a knife.

This is Witherspoon’s second film after '04's Middle Man and he proves himself practically a one man crew here writing directing editing and photographing.

The climax is a frenzy of violence and mayhem that personally took me back to the kick ass films of tough guy Charles Bronson in the 70's and early 80's

The one problem I had with Rage is when it takes time away from its game of cat and mouse between the 2 main characters to take care of Twist's neighbors--This just disrupts the narrative for me--although a well executed sequence--it somehow seemed out of place since for about 90% of the pic it's just Twist and the Biker Mano-a-mano. I understand the notion of needing to escalate things I'm just saying it may have been better without having to diverge.

Rage is a worthwhile exercise in tension and fear that will not disappoint on many levels all the while it pays homage to the past....