The Hitcher II: I've Been Waiting

Hitcher II, The: I've Been Waiting (2003) C. Thomas Howell, Kari Wuhrer, Jake Busey, Mackenzie Gray, Douglas MacLeod, D: Louis Morneau.

Cop Howell mysteriously seems to have an anniversary for the nightmare he had 17 years ago. This time, his tough cookie girlfriend (Wuhrer) experiences it next to him on a country road trip, where a new menacing hitchhiker (Busey) frames her with his machinations and those stupid cops won't believe her.

Obvious, needless thriller is just a refurbished remake, while suffering to not be on par with its predecessor from a key exclusion-Rutger Hauer.

Running Time: 93 minutes and rated R for strong violence.

RATING: ** (out of ****)

If you want to get anyone back for a super-belated sequel to "The Hitcher" it's Rutger Hauer, not C. Thomas Howell. Howell is a functional if unremarkable lead in the original film. The secret to that film is Hauer's performance which sells the suggestion that maybe there's something supernatural about him so well that makes the film's (deliberate) ridiculousness work.

Here we have Jake Busey, and he's an okay actor, but he's not selling anything. This film's plot is patently ridiculous and Jake sure isn't making it work. Howell is all twitchy overacting until he leaves the film prematurely leaving us with Kari Wuhrer to finish the flick. It's two pretty okay actors in a competently shot, but visually uninteresting thriller.

It would be a fairly inoffensive way to spend an hour and a half if weren't a thoroughly unnecessary sequel to a much better film.

If this movie was a stand alone straight-to-video flick with no connection to The Hitcher, I think it would have been more enjoyable. But that's just not the case. Instead, this turns out to be such an obvious rip-off of the first it's not even funny. There's absolutely no doubt in my mind that the only reason it was made was to make a quick buck. This lame and laughable re-hash of the original doesn't even deserve "The Hitcher" title. A sequel didn't need to be made, but since one was, it's just plain sad that this had to be it. They could have done better than this, even for straight-to-video. If you haven't seen the original though, you will probably enjoy this more. But for the most part, it just annoyed me. It did manage to get a little better and more interesting after a half an hour or so, but until then, I was less than thrilled. It made me roll my eyes quite a few times, mainly during the first 30+ minutes. The last 40-50 minutes or so were undeservedly entertaining, of course, pretty much anything would be entertaining after the rocky start the movie had. And even though pretty much the whole thing stole from the original, it managed to get me interested during the last half. Sure, I knew what would happen. Hell, anyone who's ever seen a horror movie, action movie, or thriller before will be able to see the final events unfolding before they even happen. But even with the terrible dialogue, plot-holes, shameless ripping off, and just plain silliness, I was still entertained during the last half, even if I'm not proud of it.

Before seeing this movie I was happy C. Thomas Howell was at least reprising his role. But after seeing the movie, I could care less. In the original, even if his character did some of the dumbest things, he was still likable and you wanted him to get out alive. In the sequel, his character was annoying and I didn't care if he lived or died. The part where he flipped out in the care about picking up the hitchhiker was so lame. Obviously, he was right since the guy turned out to be a killer, but at the time, he had no proof, and made a fool out of himself by acting so stupid. I mean, what would the odds be that this hitchhiker would actually be a killer too? In the movie, it's pretty good (but a very lame attempt at connecting the two movies, and a little unbelievable), but in the real world, it's pretty unlikely that would happen. So both times you pick up a hitchhiker in your life they are going to turn out to be psycho killers? It just doesn't seem plausable. Yet the creators of this sequel just don't care, because all they wanted was a quick buck, and could care less how much disbelief the audience is supposed to suspend. The character I liked in the original becomes just

plain unbearable here. I think C. Thomas Howell's overracting is the main reason this happens. The scene in the car when he goes crazy is the best example of this. I prefer to just forget this annoying Jim Halsey (Howell) and remember the one in the original instead... Surprisingly fairing better is Kari Wuhrer. I didn't expect much from her, but she was actually the best thing about the movie. Her acting wasn't the best, but it wasn't bad and it was certainly better than everyone else in the movie. Plus, the fact that she's very easy on the eyes here made the movie easier to watch. She looked kind of like a poor-man's Ashley Judd... I've never liked Jake Busey, and this movie didn't change that. Even if he does somewhat resemble Rutger Hauer from the original, his performance doesn't even come close. With Hauer, we felt a sense of dread, a reason to be afraid. Here, Busey is just plain goofy and cracking lame one-liners. I never felt afraid of this bumbling moron.

Even though I knew this wouldn't be able to touch the original, I still couldn't help but look forward to this movie. I thought it might be able to at least entertain, and figured it was a good sign that Howell was back, but that just wasn't the case. It couldn't even meet my expectations, which weren't all that high. I also could have done without the blinding cinematography. It was kind of annoying. The colors were really bad and bled quite a bit. I'm not sure if the bleeding was just from the DVD version, but either way, the colors looked like crap... In the end, if you want to see a hacked up re-hash of the original, then this might please you. But I can't picture any fans of the original truly enjoying this one, even if it does manage to have a few entertaining scenes.

Grade: 6/10 (C+)

Jake Busey is pretty OK in this,verging on worthwhile for the genre.

Starts out with a stalled plane on the highway...and the guy needs alittle help to get it going...yep that happens all the time.

The story is one of revenge but never fully explained.The situations are pretty far fetched and the gore and violence reasonable realistic(special effects).

I never really felt for any of the characters nor got involved in the movie,still the production values are good,and the editing fine,it just is not a very good movie.

The detective Jim Halsey (C.Thomas Howell) is fired from the police force after a daring rescue of an abducted child, when he shot and killed the kidnapper. He is advised to look for psychological assistance, but he decides to travel with his girlfriend Maggie (Kari Wuhrer) to visit Capt. Esteridge (Stephen Hair), his old friend who believed and supported him some years ago after a traumatic experience. While traveling, Maggie decides to give a lift to Jack (Jake Busey), a weird man on the road, under the strong protest of Jim. Jack is indeed an evil psychopath, who decides to chase the couple, killing everybody around them. This movie is horrible, being a ridiculous sequel (or remake?) of a classic, but full of clichés and totally predictable! The promosing first five minutes cheats the viewer and are excellent, having a great plot point in the very beginning of the story. However, the rest of the story has a totally absurd screenplay, and none of the situations are resolved. The participation of C. Thomas Howell, a C-class actor, is minimum, basically to give his name to the credits, and his character is one of the unluckiest I have ever seen. Further, the change of the lead actor to a lead actress is very problematic, since Maggie is the guilty for the whole situation and her character is hysterical, non-charismatic, has a horrible voice and does not convince as a heroin. I do not understand the reason for the sequel of an excellent thriller after nineteen years. The end of "The Hitcher II: I've Been Waiting" is one of the worst I have ever seen. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "A Morte Pede Carona 2" ("The Death Hichhikes 2")