Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead (2008)

Very disappointed :(

recommended

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

The psychotic trucker Rusty Nail is back! This time you actually got to see him, albeit in shadowy form, as he terrorizes motorists who just had a breakdown. This was an ok sequel, though not nearly as good as the first one, which was terrific compared to this one. Some of the scenes were tense and action packed and actually a little humorous, like the "striptease" one, but I have to admit the torture scene was a little uncomfortable. They tried to match the original and sort of succeeded. If you have time on your hands and enjoy this type of movies, you might want to give it a try. It was decent at best.** out of ****

I've seen a lot of movies that went direct to DVD, so I can say with confidence that "Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead" is an above average example. It doesn't beat the first movie, but if you go in with lower expectations as I did, it does provide a reasonable amount of entertainment. For what was a low budget (just $5 million), the movie all the same looks fairly professional. Director Louis Morneau shoots the movie on picturesque locations (believe it or not, this desert-set movie was shot in British Columbia), the cinematography is good, there is ample set decoration, and there are some good vehicular action sequences and stunts here and there. The story does make for some somewhat tense moments as well, though I will admit that the protagonists are not terribly likable - though on the other hand, seeing these guys put through various tortures is amusing and satisfying. Most importantly, the movie is never boring. If you are into B movies as I am, you'll probably find the movie entertaining enough.

The second installment in the series. This time a quartet of young people break into Rusty Nails house and steal his Chevelle.This dark comedy isn't as good as the first Joy Ride film,but still amuzing. This time we find out more about Rusty Nail. He is a diverse trucker. We first see him pulling a 53' dry van,but then we see him hook up to a livestock trailer at the end of the film. Which means he is a valuable driver in the trucking world. We also learn that if ya give something to him,he usually wants to keep it. Its a fascinating thing to see our quartet in the sweltering Utah heat and then walk into a barn where we can see there breath. And yes Nic. Us truck drivers a jacked up speed freaks that can only get a date with a disease ridden hooker.Mark Gibbons drives the Peterbuilt 18 wheeler.Nicki Aycox drives the same Peterbuilt big truck.Mark Gibbons and Nicki Aycox are permanent A List actor.Nicki Aycox,Laura Jorden, and Krystal Vrbe are hot!!erldwgstruckermovies.com

As a sequel, it's is somewhat disappointing. It's not as bad as some other sequels and if it would have been a stand alone movie, it would be even okay. It's hard to watch it this way, though. But at least you get the feeling, that it wasn't a total waste of time after you're through.The story has some flaws. Even though the acting isn't that bad, they behave pretty stupid and obvious all the time. Also, they didn't manage to make you feel any sympathy or compassion for the characters and the agonies they go through.The gore in the movie is mostly out of place and not even exciting or shocking. It doesn't suit the situations and seems to have been build in only to make the movie more interesting. But it doesn't work, with one exception. I found the dice torturing game at the end of the movie quite interesting. It remembered me of the saw movies and it had more potential. Unfortunately, they kept the game too short. A few more rounds with no early game over for the opposite player would have been better. There is one of the plot errors, too. Why would Rusty Nail bother with the most cruel and brutal deaths in the movie and then return to such "harmless" things like heating up a letter in order to burn Bobbys breast? You'd expect at least that he would burn his breast with the blowtorch. Maybe he got bored by the dullness of the movie by himself.Even Rusty Nail seems to have changed since the first movie. In Joyride, you could understand why he did the things he did. He had some deeper motives and a reason. In the sequel, he's been degraded to a plain sadistic psycho with a habit of torturing people for trivial things.If you don't have high expectations or haven't seen the first movie, you might enjoy Joyride. I like trucks in movies, so I didn't mind much about the flaws.