When his wife goes into a troubled labor while he is on the road over 1200 miles away James Kowalski, an ex race car driver and a former Army Ranger, attempts to elude police while trying to get home. After numerous chases he turns into a Native American reservation and reflects on his life, and his wife. He heads off to break through a police roadblock.
Acting
Mortensen's thousand-yard stare could fuel three films.
Practical Effects
Real car destruction, not CGI. Every crash hits different.
Director
Charles Robert Carner
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This is a remake of the 1971 cult classic, but swaps the existential counterculture hero for a military veteran with a dead child backstory. The 90s really said 'what if sadness, but actionable?'
The Native American vision quest sequence was controversial even in 1997—white guy finds spiritual meaning through Indigenous mysticism while literally trespassing on a reservation. The 70s original handled this with more ambiguity.
US
