The basic plot, A young Russian woman named Laura (Savina Gersak) leaves her husband who also happens to be a cop, later on she picks up a young hitchhiker Justin McKay (Mark Hamil) who surprise surprise turns out to be a psychopath and takes her hostage while he goes on a killing spree so he can meet up with his Doctor, while her cop husband is in hot pursuit.
Midnight Ride is a bit of a strange movie, as it tries to blend Action and slasher together and it works most of the time, as I found this movie a hell of a fun ride, although it does having plot holes and lacks suspense, but all that can be forgiven. Mark Hamil plays a part a million light years away from Luke Skywalker here playing a psychopath, which I rather enjoyed, although it was a bit hammy and unconvincing at times. Michael Dudikoff plays the cop husband pretty well, I found him very charming and capable as the leading man. But I didn't find Savina Gersak very convincing at all, she's supposed to be the terrified victim, but I found her very weak and disappointing and I think that this movie would have been better if they had a better actress in that part.
The film has some really great action moments. In particular, there's a terrific Mardi Gras Massacre sequence that's one for the books. Some of the action toward the end is hit and miss (Dudikoff's encounters with the Pentangle in the swamp is kinda anti-climatic) but the finale is thoroughly awesome. It also manages to have its share of solid action beats (the bus chase was pretty good). Plus, it moves along at a steady clip, which helps make you forget about the lapses in logic. But overall I found this movie fun and entertaining, the scenes with Mark Hamil are the real highlight even if they were hysterically funny, like when he tries to attack a female victim, But I did enjoy the final scenes between him and Dudikoff in the steam factory and the hospital scene.
So all in all okay Midnight Ride is a copy of the far superior Hitcher, but it's not a bad one and this should get a DVD release, because I enjoyed it.
