  |
This article's content is marked as Mature The page contains mature content that may include coarse language, sexual references, and/or graphic violent images which may be disturbing to some. Mature pages are recommended for those who are 18 years of age and older. If you are 18 years or older or are comfortable with graphic material, you are free to view this page. Otherwise, you should close this page and view another page. |
Proposal sequel that... probably nobody asked for.
What is the work?[]
The Hitcher II: I've Been Waiting is a direct-to-video road thriller, and an unnecessary, contrived sequel to the original film that had Rutger Hauer as the chilling hitchhiker. Jim Halsey's back fifteen years after the original, with a new girlfriend named Maggie, and suffering from PTSD from his experiences in the first film (getting hounded by a serial killer will probably do that to you).
So they plan a visit to Texas so Jim can cope with his psychological issues with Captain Esteridge. Things don't quite go to plan when Maggie pushes Jim to pick up a weirdo hitchhiker... who may or may not be a nutty serial killer... and who may or may not be John Ryder reincarnated...
Who is he? What has he done?[]
Actually, the Hitcher known as Jack is not John Ryder reincarnated (as much as the movie likes to shove that "theory" in our faces) but some random guy who just so happens to be a hitchhiker, like John Ryder; is a sadistic serial killer, like John Ryder; dresses similarly, to John Ryder; and terrorizes Jim Halsey... like John Ryder... I digress.
To nobody's surprise, the weirdo hitchhiker is a serial killer who murders anybody he hitches rides with out of pure enjoyment. Hitching a ride with Jim Halsey and Maggie after slaughtering some people in a RV, Jack almost immediately targets a semi-truck driver after a terrified Jim evicts him from his car. Jack takes the driver's truck, his clothes, his life, and his scalp. He uses his scalped trucker disguise to gun down a cop that pulled Jim and Maggie over, and switches all of his attention onto making Jim and Maggie's lives hell. Though they escape from him, Jack manages to plant Maggie's locket necklace on the cop's body so the murder is pinned on the two of them.
Jack beats Jim and Maggie to the Esteridge residence, kills Mrs. Esteridge, and slits Captain Esteridge's throat with a buzzsaw for Jim and Maggie to find. Worse, Jack called the police on them in advance so they'd be blamed for killing them. Taking the two by surprise, he tries to plug a bullet into Maggie, but Jim jumps out in the way so he takes it in the chest instead... Jack shoots him again for good measure while playfully grumbling that he won't get to toy with him any longer. Jim later bleeds to death from his wounds not even halfway through the movie, by the way! Make your movie all about the previous film's protagonist only to kill him off 40 minutes in! Top notch writing! So Jack shoots out with the cops when they arrive and takes three cops down, and he conceals himself well enough to make Maggie look responsible for shooting at the cops.
After Jim dies, Jack decides he's not done with Maggie and kidnaps her, trapping her in a collapsing water tower to see if it'll crumble and squish her or not. Luckily, she escapes. But not so luckily, Jack stabs two people at a roadside trade post to death when Maggie visits it and, once again, draws the attention of the police to frame her up some more. Jack easily ensures Maggie's arrest by cutting off one of his own fingers so it looks like she attacked him and passes his shotgun over to her after he shoots another cop dead in a shootout. Jack plays victim by spewing a whole load of lies to the police. And Maggie's carried off into a prison van...
...But for Jack, that's too boring. He gleefully blasts away all four of the cops that held Maggie in custody, including the one cop that believes she's innocent, and once again, makes her look responsible for his killings. So Maggie's out, Jack kills another truck driver for his vehicle, and then they have a drive-by shooting match where Maggie is flying a plane after him (don't ask). She manages to crash into him and ties Jack between the truck (because she still thinks he's John Ryder and wants him to pay for traumatizing Jim with Nash's murder), but two cops show up and stop her. They foolishly believe Jack is innocent, so they cut him loose, only for him to immediately kill them. Luckily, Jack's tanker truck is leaking, so Maggie finally finishes Jack off by blowing him up.
Mitigating Factors[]
From start to finish, Jack is a slimy, gleeful sadist who likes to play innocent to get away with his crimes. No death wish motive like John Ryder has, no inkling of a Freudian Excuse, nothing. Nothing sticks out. He does what he does throughout the movie for the hell of it and he admits it.
Heinous Standards[]
So from the original, John Ryder slaughters his way through 20 people and potentially more, four of which were a whole family with two kids; hounds Jim with incrimination and all sorts of torment; and takes things to a horribly personal level by ripping Jim's love interest in half with a truck. He's not going anywhere. So how does Jack, another serial killer like John, hold up?
Putting all the flaws of this movie aside and the fact that Jack is a less interesting, less subtle rehash of John Ryder, Jack still has enough differences in his character for his crimes to be judged on their own merits. He's a complete sadist who kills for pointless thrills. Said thrills cost the lives of over 18 people (didn't include the RV kills in this body count; there's no number mentioned or seen, but at least two people were in there given the mention of it and the visible blood outside the RV). There were probably more victims under his belt before the film starts, given the circumstances behind the RV killing. That alone puts him on par with John in terms of body count, especially for, once again, a lone drifter roaming around in the middle of a desert.
Plus, Jack gets creative in some ways where John didn't. For example: Killing an aging couple, one of which he killed with a buzzsaw. Scalping a man for a disguise. His little idea of "let's put Maggie in this unstable water tower so I can try to get her crushed". The general mocking way he kills some of his victims and how far he goes to frame Maggie as a killer... Yeah, for some of these, I really can't help but feel like the sheer, pointless sadism in his actions give him enough edge.
Final Verdict[]
Up to you.