So, let's be realistic here.........they used the CAT to escape because it was the only vehicle that could get up the "jeep trail".......um, so why didn't they use the CAT to go up the road and clear all the debris that covered the road and everyone could've just driven out in their vehicles like normal? Ah, movies!
shareGood thinking. I never caught that little point, before. It probably WAS a plot hole, as you say, but one explanation might have been that the jeep trail was closer to town; they DID mention that the entire valley was covered in loose, alluvial soil that the graboids could really motor through, while the jeep trail led up into the mountains, where the monsters couldn't dig through the rocky ground.
- You may have come on no bicycle, but that does not say that you know everything.
The roadblock was a pretty bad one. Maybe they figured it was safer to just use the jeep trail, rather than risk clearing all those tons of rocks.
shareAlso, why would the CAT be an appropriate vehicle for a jeep trail? A trail that only Jeeps could handle would probably be steep with lots of ravines and random rocks and difficult spots. A CAT isnt really built for climbing tough mountain trails. Just because they have treads and move slowly through mud doesnt mean that they would be good in this situation.
shareI think where the boulders fell was a lot farther then what many think because when they came back, the Micheal Gross character said he thought they would have been in Bixby or half way to Bixsby by now which seems to indicate they were gone a long time to go to and from where the boulders were blocking the road. That CAT was extremely slow and may not have had enough fuel(they normally run on diesel) to make it those boulders to clear them. Bulldozers are not meant to drive long distances which is why they are hauled on 18 wheelers to construction sites.
shareThe roadblock was a LOT further away.
shareAlso, in the scene where they get Burt from his roof and stop the CAT, the monsters attack it. Earl says to hurry because "they try this every time I stop!" They would have to stop the CAT at the roadblock for a very long time to in order to clear it. It wouldn't last long enough for them to do so.
shareThey were driving their Jeep all over the desert already, I'm sure they could've used the 4 wheel drive vehicle to find an alternate route.
shareGood thinking overall, because I thought the same thing and even the writers acknowledged it in a Q&A on their website. The map of the valley shows the roadblock being several miles away, and we also see the graboids breaking through the concrete. Plus, I think the roadblock would've been far too much for the bulldozer to handle. I guess they figured it was better to haul towards the mountains, where they knew it'd be 100% safe.
shareBetter yet: when in their truck and get to the debris, why didn't they just drive around it?
-Nam
I am on the road less traveled...
If I remember correctly (it's been a very long while since i've watched the movie)
The debris on the trail was impassable because the road on one side was a cliff, and the other side was a very steep incline.
I watched it the day I made the comment; while one side was a cliff the other side was not. It was just desert.
-Nam
I am on the road less traveled...
i'm currently watching it.. and saw this topic before that point so i looked intentionally hard at the road block scene.
there is a bit of a cliff on the side the rockslide came from, and on the other it's bushes / short trees that are a bit taller then the utility truck the construction guys drove.
i don't think they could have driven thru that even with the 4wd truck, maybe with the cat. but it is difficult to tell just what kind of bushes / trees they were.