Usually the way that I see films is I’ll hear about it over the internet, and obsess about it until I see it. This scenario isn’t true about this film. It is true about the sequel. I first heard about Freeway 2: Confessions of a Trickbaby, so I obsessed about seeing that. I did, and was very pleased. It was then that I decided to see the first. Especially since although the second was great, with excellent performances included the great Vincent Gallo, there was something that it didn’t have that most movies should: Kiefer Sutherland. When I found out that he was involved I knew that I had to see it. Most people are interested when they find out that Reese Witherspoon was the main character. That was an attraction, since she is a very good actress, but to be honest, it was all about the Sutherland.

Matthew Bright’s Freeway is an urbanized retelling of Little Red Riding Hood. Don’t expect the film to follow the story exactly, but that was the basis. In this case Little Red is Vanessa Lutz, a young High School student, who comes from your classic broken home. Her mother is a druggie turning tricks for more drug money, and her stepfather is more than comfortable with the fact that she’s not really his daughter, if you get my drift. One day Mrs. Lutz tries to organize an arrangement with a man who turns out to be a cop. After arresting her they find all kinds of drugs and decide to take her in. The cops raid her house where they find Vanessa’s stepfather currently abusing her. They take both the mother and stepfather in, leaving Vanessa with a child services representative. When she tries to take Vanessa in, Vanessa handcuffs her to the bedpost and takes off with her bag of things, to find her long lost grandmother, (Riding Hood parallels clear yet?). Before leaving Vanessa says goodbye to her boyfriend Chopper, who gives her a gun to take with her to pawn for cash when she reaches her destination. Vanessa takes off feeling good about her plan, but many obstacles are in her way.

The biggest of those obstacles is the most interesting character in the film. Vanessa’s car breaks down on the freeway, and she is “Rescued” by Bob Wolverton, of course, played by Kiefer Sutherland. This is where the film really begins to shine. Sutherland’s performance is incredible. Bob is a child psychologist who is at first glance a very tender and caring man. For the first time in her life, Vanessa has found someone to listen to her, who seems generally concerned. Everything seems like it’s going well for Vanessa, and it’ll all work out, especially when Bob tells her he’ll drive her. However, problems emerge when Bob begins to ask her rather peculiar questions about her past. At first, it’s normal, as he prods into her abusive story, but soon his questions get more and more sick. It now comes to light that Bob is the I-5 killer that has been hacking up young girls on the freeway. Bob tries to kill Vanessa, but she ends up getting away, putting quite a few bullets into Bob.

Vanessa ends up getting picked up by the police who find evidence that she is the one who shot Bob. She tells them her story, but there are factors working against her. Bob is a respected member of society, and she is white trash. The fact that she took money from Bob after shooting him didn’t help her case any. The police don’t believe her and they inform her that Bob is not dead. It turns out that Bob wasn’t killed but deformed, having to wear several face contraptions. He can’t talk too well either. All of this lands Vanessa in jail, where she decides to escape. Using her skills she is able to do so, also freeing other members of the jail.

The story continues from there, as Vanessa ventures out to find her grandmother, but I’d rather not give too much away. I will say that the film takes many unique turns, and is quite packed with cameos, and major roles by well known actors. These cameos, and roles include Brooke Shields as Bob’s wife, Amanda Plummer as Mrs. Lutz, Brittany Murphy as a fellow inmate, and Dan Hedaya as a lawyer.

In addition to the unique plot, the film is done in a very creative way. It could have been that this was written/director Matthew Bright’s first full-fledged film, but the film had this raw, energetic spirit to it. The film really draws you in to the story.

The other thing punctuating the story is the performances. Reese Witherspoon does a very impressive job as the title role. Of course, as I stated earlier, the real hats off is to Kiefer Sutherland. His performance was the most versatile of them all. The role required that the actor go through several different personalities. Bob first had to pretend to be friendly, and then drastically change to sinister, gradually. Then make another 180 as the upper hand shifts to Vanessa. It’s a good thing that the role did go to Sutherland, because an inexperienced actor would not have been able to handle it.

The film was a lot to take on. There were many stages of it. There was the first part with Vanessa’s home life at school, and her “House,” and Chopper. Than there was her experience with Bob, then the jail stage, then the continuation of her journey. However, even with all of this on his plate Matthew Bright was able to produce a quality film that experimented, but was coherent, and truly unique. The scenes with Witherspoon and Sutherland are nothing short of brilliant.

Black comedy was fluent throughout the film, and was the perfect “Pitch” so to speak. The comedy weighed with everything else that was going on, didn’t feel lopsided or out of place in any way.

I recommend this to anyone who is looking for a creative and unique perspective on things, and a quality, independent film, that branches off from conventional techniques. Freeway is a film of many things including great dialogue, actions, and overall performance.




Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS