Trucks (1997) Review

"Trucks don't drive by themselves."

-Thad Timmy

In the rural town of Lunar, Nevada, which is just a auto garage, a motel, and a diner, a group of people become trapped when all of the truck mysteriously come to life and begin killing humans.  Now, mechanic, Ray Porter (Timothy Busfield), has to find a way to fight back to protect his son and friends from the murderous machines.

Trucks is the second film based on the Stephen King short story of the same name.  The first was called Maximum Overdrive, which is the only film ever directed by King.  I'd say Trucks is the superior film, but that doesn't say much.  This one is more competently made, but, due to the low budget and the made-for-TV quality, it is less entertaining.

What Works:

First off, some of the stunts done with the trucks are good.  We don't get a lot of them, and they aren't all good, but there are some nice ones with some great explosions.

Our protagonist, Ray, is played by Timothy Busfield and he does a good job with the material he is given.  Ray is not an interesting character by any means, but Busfield brings emotion to the role and I can tell he is a talented actor.

Finally, there are a couple of fun sequences.  One involves June Yeager (Sharon Bajer) attacking a truck with an axe, which is simply hilarious.  The climax of the film is also far superior to Maximum Overdrive with a mildly intense sequence and a solid twist ending involving a helicopter.

What Sucks:

As I said above, Ray is not an interesting character, but the rest of the characters are far worse.  They all range from useless to annoying if not both.  I was invested in none of them and wanted most, if not all of them, to be killed off.

To make matters worse, the acting in this movie, aside from Busfield, is atrocious.  Everyone is either bland or terrible  Worst of all is Brenda Bakke who plays the love interest.  I can't remember the last time I saw such wooden acting.  I could have done a better job in the role and I'm a 24-year-old guy who might be able to act my way out of a paper bag, but only on a good day.  Every line of dialogue that came out of her mouth fell flat and I'm half-convinced she was stoned throughout the entire production.

There is one scene in the film that makes absolutely no sense and doesn't ever pay off.  Two guys are in a truck on their way to clean up a chemical spill.  Somehow, the truck manages to inflate one of the hazmat suits, which somehow manages to pick up an axe, walk around, and chop up the guys with said axe.  It makes literally no sense and never comes up again in the film.

One of the only good things about Maximum Overdrive is the main antagonist, which was a toy truck with the Green Goblin on the front.

It's really cool and the most memorable part of the movie.  The main antagonist of Trucks is just a standard truck.  It doesn't stand out out all until the final sequence when it returns partially destroyed after being caught in an explosion.  The rest of the movie it's just very bland...like the rest of the film.

For the most part, this movie is simply boring and couldn't hold my interest for long.  I just wanted it to end because I was so uninterested in the plot and the characters.

Verdict:

This remake made be superior to the original film, but that isn't saying much.  Sure, it has a few cool stunts, two solid sequences, and a decent performance from Timothy Busfield, but the other characters suck, the acting is atrocious, the plot is both nonsensical at times and boring at others, and the villain is far more bland than the original.  Trucks does not have it going on.

 3/10: Really Bad