The Hitcher II - I've Been Waiting

The Hitcher II - I've Been Waiting
by Louis Morneau

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DVD Reviews of The Hitcher II - I've Been Waiting

DVD Review: Drive on. There's nothing to see here.
Summary: 1 Stars

The story picks up years after the first movie closed, as Jim Halsey (played by C.Thomas Howell, who has grown up to resemble a rejected member of Motley Crue) is still haunted by the nightmare that was Rutger Hauer. He is now a veteran cop, undergoing serious stress and anxiety. In an effort to get his life back on track, he seeks out his police mentor buddy (Jeffrey DeMunn's character from the original, here played by someone else). However, to get to him, he must travel down that same stretch of road from the original movie, where he first encountered Hauer's malevolent villain.

En route, he takes his girlfriend Maggie (Kari Wuhrer in serious direct-to-video fatigue), who is blissfully unaware of Jim's past. Together, they travel down that same dusty highway, with Howell sweating and moaning about 'how they cannot stop for anything, must keep driving' etc. However, within 5 minutes of the running time, up pops Jake Busey - decked out on long black overcoat, wild blonde hair and carrying a rather big gun. Obviously, Howell flips his lid after Busey whispers in his ear 'I've been waiting for you' and then all hell breaks loose.

Well, I say 'all hell'. If you call people running away from a guy who looks about as frightening as a grinning children's entertainer at a kid's 5th birthday party, then by all means be terrified. However, I doubt it. To be fair to Busey, he is thoroughly entertaining - with his wild looks and goofy antics just about making the film bearable. Its just coming after Hauer's icy and twisted portrayal in the original film, Busey has to work EXTRA hard to get any real licks in. Returning 'star' Howell valiantly strives to rise above the mediocre script, and at some points he succeeds in exhibiting the right amount of stress and paranoia, but even he is flogging a dead horse in this dreadfully routine TV movie.

Director Louis Morneau has made some decent movies in the past. With the high-octane action comedy MADE MEN to the fun time travel thriller RETRO-ACTIVE, he has delivered excellent movies on shoe-string budgets, allowing his style and sharp sense of pacing drag you through even the dumbest of scripts. However, on this occasion his directorial style works against him. With this kind of film, mood is the key. The first movie had it in spades - lush cinematography, expert editing and a dark screenplay that set it apart from the rest of the 80s slasher led dreck. On this sequel however, Morneau shoots it like it were an action film. With his camera zooming all over the place and cutting scenes within an inch of their TV movie life, he never allows the viewer to become engrossed in the proceedings and care about any of the characters. Which is a shame as the cast are making an effort, even if the 'dime store, seen it all before' script isn't.

Universal's disc has NO extras. Not even a trailer. Which hurts even more, after you've seen the movie. The picture and audio quality are however, fine. With cinematographer George Maroodian's stylish (if fast moving) camerawork exhibited in full.

So, to sum up - after seeing the original film, you already know that there isn't a need for a sequel to THE HITCHER. That movie had a beginning, a middle and an end. Why Universal decided to make an awful sequel to a classic 80s thriller is anybody's guess. And, why I had the curiosity to spend [money]to see this unnecessary exercise in tedium is also, anybody's guess. I just hope you can learn from my mistake, keep your money firmly in your pocket and stick with the original.

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