Trucks (1997)
Trucks (1997)
Many people weren't happy with Stephen King's adaptation of his own short story Trucks in 1986 when he wrote, and directed Maximum Overdrive. So USA television network aired a made for television version of stephen King's short story Trucks, and called their version Trucks. Usually the point of remaking a film is to make it better...okay sadly it seems like the trend ends up being like Trucks where remakes are in fact worse than the original, which is the reason I tend to not appreciate remakes of films. Like why did they remake Pet Sematary in a terrible way, why did they remake It and not make it better than the original, why do people think that remakes are ever a good idea, unless you have the ability to actually fix something that didn't work and make it better. That brings us to Trucks, it looks worse than Maximum Overdrive, it just has a much cheaper looking production value, the acting is subpar compared to Maximum Overdrive, the characters feel underdeveloped, the pacing feels off, and the story itself seems to be lacking definition. All in all it is just a bad remake. The plot is basically the same as Maximum overdrive, just a different setting, characters and the chain of events differs, but both stories are about trucks coming alive and killing people, and a small group of survivors in a truckstop.
Trucks was directed by Chris Thompson, with a story by Brian Taggert. The film is based on Stephen King's short story of the same name. The film was distributed by Trimark and released on the USA television network, which is a station similar to the Sci-fi channel in their releasing of low budget and poor quality made for television films. The film has received generally negative reviews from the critics.
Trucks stars Timothy Busfield as Ray Porter, and Brendan Fletcher plays his teenage son Logan Porter, Brenda Bakke plays Hope Gladstone, who gives UFO hiking tours near a small town called Lunar Nevada. Roman Podhora plays Thad Timmy an ex airforce officer on the tour with his teenage daughter Abby Timmy (Amy Stewart) who really doesn't want to be there, Ray Brazeau plays Jack an aging hippy who is also part of the tour, they then meet Brad Yeager (Jonathan Barrett) and his wife June Yeager (Sharon Bajer) once they get to the cabins at the truck stop. At the truck stop/cafe Victor Cowie plays George the cook, and Aidan Devine plays Trucker Bob, and Rick Skene plays Trucker Pete. None of the cast are really worth talking about, they are mediocre at best, some are barely tolerable, and it was hard to feel any attachment to anyone, other than maybe the maine four characters of Hope, Ray, Logan, and Abby, but even that is tough because the characters aren't played super well, the cast feels very amateurish.
So on the brightside, there are parts where the film actually creates some tension and as the trucks are circling the building. I also do like how the intelligence of the trucks is emphasized more here than it was in Maximum Overdrive, and the trucks actually have a language that they communicate to each other through their horns and flashing of lights and windshield wipers, I felt that made the Trucks feel like a more intelligent alien life form, and more of a threat. I also like how the trucks showed their intelligence by not harming the person that they recognize as the man who runs the fuel pumps (Ray Porter), and they try to communicate to him, and they don't run him down. So there are definitely some good parts of the film, and really it is what it is, which is a low-budget made for television film. Negatives, and there are a few... First of all, I hate the whole exploding cars thing, it takes a lot more to explode a car or truck than just crashing it, this has always irritated me about films, and I felt that Maximum Overdrive was good about not doing that, but Trucks, every damn thing is exploding all over the place, it is ridiculous. Second what the fuck is with the ending of this film? Obviously I can't go into details, so watch it and see if you can figure out what the hell is going on there, they can't just leave it like that. Third, the introduction of characters and story elements that are pointless, the power company worker, the chemical clean up guys, the guy that is stuck in the back of the reefer truck that we never hear from again. There are subplots that are underdeveloped and that go nowhere, so what is the point in them at all. for example the chemical truck explosion, that can't be used as the reason for the trucks coming alive, because three had come alive before that happened, so what is the point, why is it in the film at all, it doesn't add anything of importance, and is just a pointless undeveloped subplot, same goes with the guys driving to clean it up, who are they, why should we care, and why do we keep flashing to them, if they have no real part to play in the actual story, it is pointless, and that budget could have went to improving the actual developed plot line. This is a film that just kind of falls apart soon after it starts, it is a jumbled mess, that suffers a terrible case of mediocrity at best.
If you haven't seen trucks, I really can't think of a reason that you should, even if you are a big Stephen King fan, why not just watch Maximum Overdrive, it was a far superior film, and way more fun to watch. If you get it as apart of a Stephen King DVD collection, then by all means, check it out, but don't pay for this film on it's own, you can spend your money on much more worthwhile things. So Trucks, a mediocre made for television film which aired on the USA television network, it is what it is, and I think deep down there is the potential for a good film lost in this jumbled mess of mediocrity.
Trucks was directed by Chris Thompson, with a story by Brian Taggert. The film is based on Stephen King's short story of the same name. The film was distributed by Trimark and released on the USA television network, which is a station similar to the Sci-fi channel in their releasing of low budget and poor quality made for television films. The film has received generally negative reviews from the critics.
So on the brightside, there are parts where the film actually creates some tension and as the trucks are circling the building. I also do like how the intelligence of the trucks is emphasized more here than it was in Maximum Overdrive, and the trucks actually have a language that they communicate to each other through their horns and flashing of lights and windshield wipers, I felt that made the Trucks feel like a more intelligent alien life form, and more of a threat. I also like how the trucks showed their intelligence by not harming the person that they recognize as the man who runs the fuel pumps (Ray Porter), and they try to communicate to him, and they don't run him down. So there are definitely some good parts of the film, and really it is what it is, which is a low-budget made for television film. Negatives, and there are a few... First of all, I hate the whole exploding cars thing, it takes a lot more to explode a car or truck than just crashing it, this has always irritated me about films, and I felt that Maximum Overdrive was good about not doing that, but Trucks, every damn thing is exploding all over the place, it is ridiculous. Second what the fuck is with the ending of this film? Obviously I can't go into details, so watch it and see if you can figure out what the hell is going on there, they can't just leave it like that. Third, the introduction of characters and story elements that are pointless, the power company worker, the chemical clean up guys, the guy that is stuck in the back of the reefer truck that we never hear from again. There are subplots that are underdeveloped and that go nowhere, so what is the point in them at all. for example the chemical truck explosion, that can't be used as the reason for the trucks coming alive, because three had come alive before that happened, so what is the point, why is it in the film at all, it doesn't add anything of importance, and is just a pointless undeveloped subplot, same goes with the guys driving to clean it up, who are they, why should we care, and why do we keep flashing to them, if they have no real part to play in the actual story, it is pointless, and that budget could have went to improving the actual developed plot line. This is a film that just kind of falls apart soon after it starts, it is a jumbled mess, that suffers a terrible case of mediocrity at best.
If you haven't seen trucks, I really can't think of a reason that you should, even if you are a big Stephen King fan, why not just watch Maximum Overdrive, it was a far superior film, and way more fun to watch. If you get it as apart of a Stephen King DVD collection, then by all means, check it out, but don't pay for this film on it's own, you can spend your money on much more worthwhile things. So Trucks, a mediocre made for television film which aired on the USA television network, it is what it is, and I think deep down there is the potential for a good film lost in this jumbled mess of mediocrity.
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