Based on Stephen King's short story "Trucks"; the earth passes the tail of a comet and as a result, machines (Including vehicles) start coming to life to kill the human race and enslave them. Emilo Estevez plays an ex-con working at a Truck Stop, however, he and a bunch of people our trapped at the Truck Stop as trucks surround the place. It's up to Estevez to save the survivors and head to an island where there are no machines or vehicles. The plot is without a doubt surreal, bizarre, ridiculous, and at times makes no sense. So any type of machinery can come alive, well, why not the machine guns that our heroes use? Trucks, bulldozers, steamrollers, Ice Cream trucks, planes, and such can come alive, but not cars? It's been said that Stephen King was "Coked" out of his mind all through production and didn't know what he was doing. He was even responsible for a few accidents during filming, which resulted with director of photography to lose an eye, thus having the victim win the lawsuit that filed against King. Even Truckers thought the Truck Stop set, was an actual Truck Stop. So yeah, the film sounds like a big disaster of a film, and granted it is a bad film, but with that said it was not only entertaining, but it does have a few awesome things going for it!
Since Stephen King is not really much of a director, it's natural that he doesn't know how to direct his actors, and yeah, the acting for the majority of this film sucks! I'm dead serious most of the acting is either really annoying or really bland. The characters that are so annoying that you pray for them to die are the hysterical waitress; the married couple (The wife is played by the woman who voices Lisa Simpson); the salesman; and the truckers, who are at least forgettable! Emilo Estevez also has a love interest played by Laura Harrington and not only is the chemistry bland; Harrington's performance is really bland as well! However, I will admit, there are actually a few decent and good performances in this film. The kid who tries to get to the Truck Stop is a decent actor; Pat Hingle as the hot headed boss of the Truck Stop is enjoyably hatable; but the best performance in the whole film goes to Estevez. Now I'm not saying his character is great. His back story is just as half-assed as Richard Moll's back story in "Ghost Shark"; and again, the chemistry between him and Harrington is really dull. With that said, he still gives a really badass performance! He looks badass; he acts badass; his character is a smart thinker; every time he swears is just down right badass; and the scenes of him destroying trucks are not only badass, but it's kickass as well! He can even make something as silly as yelling and cursing at live trucks, seem cool and plausible! Screw him coaching "The Mighty Ducks"; I'd rather see him blowing up trucks any time!
TIME OUT!
TIME TO PLAY: WHERE'S STEPHEN KING
Now, with a plot about machines, and certain types of vehicle's killing the human race, again does sound like a very ridiculous idea! While, being ridiculous, odd, weird, or whatever you want to call it; King not only knows that it's a campy idea and treats it like a campy B horror action movie; but he takes advantage out of the campiness; the horror aspect; and the action! While, seeing machines such as soda machines, electric knives, arcade games, controls to a drawbridge, and such kill people, is not only played out for laughs, but the effects are nice; the concept as strange as it is, leads to creative deaths and attacks; and the blood and gore effects are cool. The special effects and shots for the Trucks moving by themselves are done really, really well; the scenes with the vehicles chasing and attacking our characters are fun, thrilling, and cool; and seeing the trucks explode after seeing Estevez shoot at them and fire rocket launchers at them is beyond awesome! The action and deaths in this film are silly, but really hardcore at the same time. In fact, they're so hardcore that we even see a kid brutally get run over by a steamroller, which was so violent that the censors demanded King to cut out a shot of the kids head exploding into blood as he gets his face crushed! By the way, the head truck, which is a Truck that carries toys; for some reason has the face of the "Green Goblin" on the front of it, and as out of the blue as it is, I personally find it cool and threatening! What truly makes this movie so kickass is that the entire soundtrack is composed by the band AC/DC, that King himself selected the band to be the films composers! Hearing the AC/DC music mixed with the action, the deaths, and King's bizarre creative writing is what really makes this film so entertainingly awesome!
While, Stephen King should stick with his day job at being a writer, I still don't think the movie was all that bad! Estevez is cool as the films hero; the concept as strange and bizarre as it is, as well as not making much sense, is still done well on a very creative level; the deaths are fun and gruesome; the action is great; and the AC/DC music is incredible! The film is indeed bad and is no masterpiece at all, especially with its annoying and bland acting; and mediocre and mindless writing when compared to other classics written by King; but it is still indeed a really fun and entertaining action packed horror film by Stephen King.
TIME OUT!
TIME TO PLAY: WHERE'S STEPHEN KING
HINT: "I'm either coked out of my mind, or I was verbally assaulted by something not human!"
Now, with a plot about machines, and certain types of vehicle's killing the human race, again does sound like a very ridiculous idea! While, being ridiculous, odd, weird, or whatever you want to call it; King not only knows that it's a campy idea and treats it like a campy B horror action movie; but he takes advantage out of the campiness; the horror aspect; and the action! While, seeing machines such as soda machines, electric knives, arcade games, controls to a drawbridge, and such kill people, is not only played out for laughs, but the effects are nice; the concept as strange as it is, leads to creative deaths and attacks; and the blood and gore effects are cool. The special effects and shots for the Trucks moving by themselves are done really, really well; the scenes with the vehicles chasing and attacking our characters are fun, thrilling, and cool; and seeing the trucks explode after seeing Estevez shoot at them and fire rocket launchers at them is beyond awesome! The action and deaths in this film are silly, but really hardcore at the same time. In fact, they're so hardcore that we even see a kid brutally get run over by a steamroller, which was so violent that the censors demanded King to cut out a shot of the kids head exploding into blood as he gets his face crushed! By the way, the head truck, which is a Truck that carries toys; for some reason has the face of the "Green Goblin" on the front of it, and as out of the blue as it is, I personally find it cool and threatening! What truly makes this movie so kickass is that the entire soundtrack is composed by the band AC/DC, that King himself selected the band to be the films composers! Hearing the AC/DC music mixed with the action, the deaths, and King's bizarre creative writing is what really makes this film so entertainingly awesome!
While, Stephen King should stick with his day job at being a writer, I still don't think the movie was all that bad! Estevez is cool as the films hero; the concept as strange and bizarre as it is, as well as not making much sense, is still done well on a very creative level; the deaths are fun and gruesome; the action is great; and the AC/DC music is incredible! The film is indeed bad and is no masterpiece at all, especially with its annoying and bland acting; and mediocre and mindless writing when compared to other classics written by King; but it is still indeed a really fun and entertaining action packed horror film by Stephen King.
RATING 3/5
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