Director: Steven Spielberg
Release Date: 1971
Running Time: 1hr 30 minutes
Genre: Thriller
Rating: 12
Format: Blu-Ray
Synopsis:
A business commuter is pursued and terrorized by the malevolent driver of a massive oil tanker.
Directorial debut of oscar winning director Steven Spielberg. Business commuter David Mann (Weaver) finds himself on a psychological and thrilling journey, when the driver of an oil tanker tries to kill him, forcing him off the road at every chance he gets. Despite the film being cast as a TV movie, Duel really delivers a unique cinematic experience to audiences, it's exceptionally rare that you will experience anything quite like it today. Spielberg's short but clever masterpiece really is a piece of cinematic history. Spielberg proved very early on in his career that he had a very bright future ahead of him!
Dennis Weaver stars as business commuter David Mann, who finds himself tormented by a psychopathic oil tanker driver. One of whom you never get to see. Part of the psychological terror is that you only ever get to see the drivers arms and feet. Clever and thought-provoking, you find yourself constantly asking questions. Why is this man so passionate about killing David? Who is he? Is he just paranoid? Is this man a serial killer? Has he killed others before David? The excitement really comes from Dennis's spectacular performance to reason with himself, why this is all happening? David just wants to get home, however he finds himself being hunted down by an unknown stranger.
The beauty of this psychological thriller is that it really proves you don't need fancy special effects to thrill audiences. The thrill doesn't come from what you do see, but more from what you don't see. The ultimate car chase, between cat and mouse. Who will win? Who will die? Spielberg terrifically teases audiences throughout the film to hint as to what is really happening and what may have happened in the past with the oil tanker. Magnificently shot from beginning to end. Unfortunately one that seems to go amiss among film collectors, but most certainly one that shouldn't be missed by die hard psychological thriller collectors. Terrifying.
5/5 stars
No comments:
Post a Comment