Blacktop starts at the roadside Blacktop diner where David (Lochlyn Munro) is freelancing as a comedian, his girlfriend Sylvia (Kristin Davis) is unhappy about their erratic lifestyle & demands a commitment from David which he is unwilling to give. In a rage Sylvia decides to leave & accepts a lift from a trucker named Jack (Meat Loaf Aday) who is in fact some sort of serial killer & marriage guidance counsellor all in one, he kidnaps Sylvia & leaves clues for David in a game of death that will prove David's commitment & love for Sylvia or get them both killed...
This Canadian production was co-written, co-produced & directed by T.J. Scott & one has to say that it starts off reasonably well enough & sets up a potentially interesting story but does nothing with it & descends into complete predictable tedium. At first glance Blacktop just doesn't sound that promising on paper, I mean a film staring Meat Loaf as a psychotic trucker set alarm bells off in my head, I thought 'whoa there this sounds terrible' & I suppose it is but just not as terrible as I had expected. The script by Scott & Kevin Lund has the Meat Loaf character as some sort of psychotic marriage guidance counsellor which is just plain odd, apparently he goes around in his big black truck picking up girls who have had rows or arguments with their boyfriends & leaving clues for the boyfriend to follow him & fight to get her back in order for them to realise how much they love them. It's a bizarre storyline which I just can't really see working in reality, certainly not on a regular basis. Then there's the bodies that Meat Loaf keeps in the refrigerated part of his trailer which are never explained. Who are these people, is Meat Loaf a cannibal? Why is he keeping them in his truck? The basic question of whether Meat Loaf is a murdering psychopathic cannibal or just a good natured guy trying to make people see how much they really care for each other is never really answered & I couldn't help but feel that it should have been. The David & Sylvia character's are quite well fleshed out & you certainly stick with the film to begin with because of that & the whole 'is Meat loaf a psycho' question but the film goes nowhere, it becomes extremely repetitive with the same thing happening & at the end of the day is there anyone out there who doesn't think that David will save Sylvia? So in all with a better final two thirds in which the story actually goes somewhere Blacktop could have been good but unfortunately it isn't so it isn't.
Director Scott was going for a thriller feel rather than an out and out horror, in fact I'd struggle to call Blacktop a horror film at all. There's certainly nothing I would call scary, Meat Loaf never really turns into some Leatherface psycho at any point & there's barely a drop of blood in it. In a bar brawl scene Meat Loaf slices a guy's ear off with a knife & throws it into his beer but otherwise there's no blood or gore at all, in fact if you were to remove that very scene Blacktop would maybe pass as a PG. There are a few half decent car stunts but nothing spectacular.
With a fairly healthy sounding budget of about $3,500,000 Blacktop is well made but not overly memorable. The acting is alright, Meat Loaf is OK who has appeared in another film playing a big truck driver called Black Dog (1998) while Kristin Davis is probably better known for her role in Sex and the City (1998 - 2004).
Blacktop had potential but doesn't do anything with it & ends up being a rather poor film, it tries but just doesn't succeed & I think it's as simple & straight forward as that.
This Canadian production was co-written, co-produced & directed by T.J. Scott & one has to say that it starts off reasonably well enough & sets up a potentially interesting story but does nothing with it & descends into complete predictable tedium. At first glance Blacktop just doesn't sound that promising on paper, I mean a film staring Meat Loaf as a psychotic trucker set alarm bells off in my head, I thought 'whoa there this sounds terrible' & I suppose it is but just not as terrible as I had expected. The script by Scott & Kevin Lund has the Meat Loaf character as some sort of psychotic marriage guidance counsellor which is just plain odd, apparently he goes around in his big black truck picking up girls who have had rows or arguments with their boyfriends & leaving clues for the boyfriend to follow him & fight to get her back in order for them to realise how much they love them. It's a bizarre storyline which I just can't really see working in reality, certainly not on a regular basis. Then there's the bodies that Meat Loaf keeps in the refrigerated part of his trailer which are never explained. Who are these people, is Meat Loaf a cannibal? Why is he keeping them in his truck? The basic question of whether Meat Loaf is a murdering psychopathic cannibal or just a good natured guy trying to make people see how much they really care for each other is never really answered & I couldn't help but feel that it should have been. The David & Sylvia character's are quite well fleshed out & you certainly stick with the film to begin with because of that & the whole 'is Meat loaf a psycho' question but the film goes nowhere, it becomes extremely repetitive with the same thing happening & at the end of the day is there anyone out there who doesn't think that David will save Sylvia? So in all with a better final two thirds in which the story actually goes somewhere Blacktop could have been good but unfortunately it isn't so it isn't.
Director Scott was going for a thriller feel rather than an out and out horror, in fact I'd struggle to call Blacktop a horror film at all. There's certainly nothing I would call scary, Meat Loaf never really turns into some Leatherface psycho at any point & there's barely a drop of blood in it. In a bar brawl scene Meat Loaf slices a guy's ear off with a knife & throws it into his beer but otherwise there's no blood or gore at all, in fact if you were to remove that very scene Blacktop would maybe pass as a PG. There are a few half decent car stunts but nothing spectacular.
With a fairly healthy sounding budget of about $3,500,000 Blacktop is well made but not overly memorable. The acting is alright, Meat Loaf is OK who has appeared in another film playing a big truck driver called Black Dog (1998) while Kristin Davis is probably better known for her role in Sex and the City (1998 - 2004).
Blacktop had potential but doesn't do anything with it & ends up being a rather poor film, it tries but just doesn't succeed & I think it's as simple & straight forward as that.