Brother is horrible...

So I recently re-watched this. I had originally seen it when it first came out years ago, and I had forgotten about it until now. I'm on a binge for 90s/00s thrillers. And I immediately remembered the film when I came across it browsing on Apple TV.

The film still holds up in a lot of ways, and is pretty damn good all things considered. I actually miss all the efficient thrillers made in the 90s/00s. They aren't masterpieces, but many of them are perfect afternoon flicks.

But my god is Steve Zahn's character a horrible horrible person. I get he's supposed to be a troublemaker and obnoxious. That's the set up for the plot (as his influence on his younger brother leads them into trouble). But with a character like this, you need something to ground him. And in this case - it's the brother (Paul Walker). Or at least it should have been.

Instead Zahn's character constantly cuts his brother down. He makes situations 10x worse and ignores what his brother has to say. And then he actually tries to have sex with the girl his brother is in love with. The girl he's driving across the country to get.

While I get he's pulling the Alpha male crap because his brother is being indecisive, it's his freakin brother! How low do you have to be, to try to *beep* the girl your brother is really in love with. Wow.

This scene alone, totally makes you not care about the characters. From that point on, there is no redeeming qualities about the characters. The only thing that saves the film by this point, is the unique premise (Big Rigs and psychopaths are still pretty unique in the grand scheme of things).

The girl character isn't really fleshed out either. So we are left with the two brothers as the main anchor to the film. And by this point, you have an awkward plot of Zahn's character trying to cuck his own brother, and the implication that the girl is pretty much willing to go there.

It really puts a sour taste to the whole character aspect of the film. Paul Walkers character is also kind of pitiful / pathetic. Again, the film shifting to the action / creepy chase stuff saves the film. But by this point, I really don't see how anyone can care about these characters. So you are just along for the ride. To see what the killer will do.

The film could have been much better, had they toned down Zahn's character, and focused more on the relationship between the brothers. If they did a plot where Walker loves his brother despite his problems. But instead we have a younger brother totally taking crap from his older brother. And then the older brother completely crossing the line and being a real scumbag. Which then makes the main cast unlikable.

I still enjoyed the film. I think the premise and how the story unfolds works really well as a thriller. I think the endings were a little sloppy, but this is overall a really underrated thriller. But I can't help but wonder why the writers had to make the character so unlikable. I was honestly rooting for the killer to run over Zahn. And didn't really care one way or the other if the main cast lived. I was more fascinated by the killer and where the plot was going.