Throttle (2005) User Reviews

Average thriller with a very non-original plot

[george_aslf · 5/10 · 2 June 2005]

A yuppie (Grayson McCouch) is being chased in a parking garage by a big truck upon making a deal together with his shady and aggressive boss (Adrian Paul) with involvement of fraud. At the same time he is obsessed with a possible adultery committed by his young and beautiful wife (Amy Locane). We have to find out who is trying to kill ,why and couple of other things.

To disregard the fact that we have already seen quite many films with similar plot (e.g. "Duel", "Joyride", etc.), this film is failing to deliver what it's prototypes have accomplished. Badly written dialogues and average acting spoil the whole suspense which the film makers are trying to achieve simply by doing the scenes with a truck trying to kill the protagonist. On the other hand, the motives of the villain are quite illogical because while in some scenes he/she is badly trying to kill the hero but fails to dot that due to quickness of the latter, in other scenes he/she has a perfect opportunity to succeed in killing but lets the man go. This cat and mouse game takes place throughout the whole movie and at times it's hard to understand true desire of the villain - whether he/she is trying to kill the man or is just flirting with him.

The flashback scenes where we see the relationship of the protagonist with his wife, his boss (Adrian Pole) and his lover (Michele Beisner) are not quite satisfying either. These scenes vaguely concern the main storyline and some of the characters turn out to be irrelevant to the plot. Subplot concerning the adulteries taking place in protagonist's life turns out to be quite meaningless as well, with respect to rest of the film plot.

Good thing about the film is that it is pretty hard to spot the villain. I was unable to guess who was in the truck and was quite surprised when I finally got to know that. So, if you want to know who is behind that truck wheel and what is going on in his/her head, just watch this average thriller. After all, it's worth watching once if you have nothing else to watch.

And the award for silliest/most awkwardly written thriller of the year goes to--

[BrandtSponseller · 4/10 · 24 July 2006]

This one might be too high concept for its own good. It's part high-tech heist film--or to make that appropriately lighter, the end of Office Space (1999), part adulterous thriller, part slasher/stalker, and part Duel (1971), Christine (1983), Maximum Overdrive (1986)/Trucks (1997), Joy Ride (2001) and Black Cadillac (2003), almost all set in a parking garage to save money.

As inherently silly as that mixture might be, it could work if written, directed and acted carefully enough. With the exception of Dan Mundell as Eddie, who is delightfully campy and over the top--he almost reminded me of Don Knotts as a bizarre Barney Fife, the performances in Throttle are nothing to write home about, but they're good enough. And director James Seale has the mechanics of basic thriller and slasher/stalker scenes down pat. Those two facets make this film almost work. Almost.

What kills it is the script. Unfortunately, Seale was also one of the writers, along with Neil Elman, but the principal cast is also partly to blame, because they should have caught the problems with the script at various stages of making the film. For example, we're shown that the lead character, Tom Weaver (Grayson McCouch) is trapped in an office building's parking garage. His car has been disabled. But this is a parking garage that people are still using, meaning that they're driving their cars out of it--we see people leaving their offices and getting in their cars to go home, and there are one or two security guards on duty. For most of the film, you keep asking yourself, "Okay, why doesn't he just walk down the ramps and out of the garage? How stupid is this guy?" He actually begs people to give him a ride out of the garage, but it never hits him to just simply walk the path that cars would take.

Well, it turns out that there's not only a security "turnpike" bar in the garage, but also a gate that can be closed and not driven through. Also, there's a reason that the security guards might not open or be able to open the gate. But we're not shown either of these facts until almost the end of film--and they wouldn't make much sense until then. But that's bad writing, because we need a reason that Tom can't or wouldn't try to just walk out of the garage right away, near the beginning of the film . . . at least if we're not to conclude that he must have been lobotomized. Additionally, there's a red herring character that got into the garage somehow, so that somewhat negates the reasons that Tom couldn't have just walked out.

This kind of writing plagues the whole film. Another example--a truck is chasing Tom through the garage, trying to run him over, and he frequently just stands in the way, even though the garage is filled with obstacles that a vehicle couldn't easily go around (or through), like other cars and concrete pillars. Tom keeps making inane decisions like that, even at the very end of the film, but I don't want to detail them all. Besides I don't have room. Detailing them all would take many thousands of words. Suffice it to say that Seale and Elman have given us maybe the dumbest protagonist ever.

So aside from enjoying scenes where Seale gets his directorial mechanics right--things work often enough on the "trees" level despite the protagonist's inanity (and heck, some people just are stupid and why can't we show them in films?), and aside from enjoying a creative way to keep the budget way down--at least this isn't another "people running through the woods" film, any enjoyment you get out of Throttle is likely to see just how stupid and ridiculous it can get, and it does tend to keep topping itself in that department. Because of this, it may be worth seeing for fans of "so bad it's good" films, but everyone else should avoid it.

Good B-movie thriller for awhile before turning super silly

[quinnox-1 · 6/10 · 18 April 2011]

This was surprisingly good for a low budget thriller until you find out who the driver of the Black Truck is, then it all falls apart. It then becomes even sillier with a so bad its funny ending. It has the obvious influence of the classic movie "Duel" as inspiration. An absurd twist happens when the big reveal of who the villain is and his motivations are explained that basically ruins the movie because of how ludicrous it all is. But until then it's not bad at all and had some good action scenes and suspense build up.

The acting was pretty good actually. There are some choppy moments in the movie when the main hero has flashbacks, and one especially takes a long time when he is at some office party. These scenes were very poorly done and unnecessarily interrupted the tension of the main plot of a man stalked in an underground parking garage by a menacing black truck.

One of the cheapest made films you'l ever see

[CQKRIS · 2/10 · 28 November 2005]

It won't take me long to describe this one. A guy gets chased around a car park by a madman in a black hummer. The end. Whats amazing about this film is how they managed to stretch the running time of the film to 90 minutes. At most this should have been a 20 minute short story.

Ludicrous plot, appalling acting (the bit at the end where the old "madman" starts crying is hilarious"), silly action scenes; this film offers nothing apart from hilarity.

Awful.

By the way, the only reason I have given it 2 out of 10 is because I managed to sit through the whole film.

Underground Duel

[JoeytheBrit · 4/10 · 2 February 2006]

This is one of those movies that presents itself as a kind of homage to an earlier classic while really just amounting to little more than a rehash of the original's central theme. As you watch you can almost imagine the full extent of the writer's thought processes: I'll make Duel. In an underground car park.

And that's it.

The references to Spielberg's early 70s TV flick are too blatant to be missed - at one point a Dennis Weaver lookalike casts a baleful glance in our hero's direction as he drives past in a red car identical to the one Weaver drove in Duel, and the main character's name is also Weaver. He's a good guy who has flirted with badness in the form of a $10 million business scam with his crooked boss before pulling out at the last minute. Our hero is lantern-jawed and handsome in that bland and plastic style beloved of daytime soap TV producers, and possesses all the initiative of a paper cup.

The movie presents us with an array of possible culprits as we watch Weaver being chased for reasons unknown around the car park by a huge truck with a bank of floodlights mounted on its cabin roof : could it be the new security guard with the attitude? The (possibly) cheating wife? The friendly security guard? The slimy boss? The jealous would-be lover? All that is certain is that, whoever it is, their reasons will in no way justify the laborious manner in which they pursue their quarry. The truck's driver seems to alternate between wanting to mash the hapless Weaver into the tarmac and merely toying with him for no good reason. And the engine of their vehicle has some kind of silent mode which means its victims (and the viewer)never hear it approaching until escape from its path is impossible.

The acting ranges from barely adequate to mind-blowingly awful, and the attempts at mystery and tension are woefully poor. The dialogue is also incredibly dull. Give this one a miss.

What's a little complication between friends?

[nogodnomasters · 4/10 · 8 January 2022]

Tom (Grayson McCouch) is convinced by Gavin (Adrian Paul) to embezzle $10 million dollars from the company. They do it after hours. Tom believes his wife is cheating on him and gets trapped in the parking garage with a killer truck trying to run him over like Christine.

There is a lot of action of Tom trying to avoid the truck and the whole story takes place in the parking garage minus some flashbacks. Michelle Beisner who played Rebecca is married to Joe Buck and does football commentary.

Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.

Well shot, watch worthy film

[stuntmanlee · 6/10 · 23 December 2012]

So we have a truck chasing a guy around in a parking garage. Well, I like the choice of vehicle which is a mid-80's K-5 Chevrolet Blazer. I know because I used to own one. These trucks are very tough and dependable.

However...it would Never have smashed through a concrete pillar in the garage because those things are tied together with steel rebar inside. But, it looks cool for the movies.

The guy ran from the truck and could have very easily been run over, but I suppose the driver was just toying with him. OK, that works too.

What I hate the most and cost a vote for a higher number, is the damn dubbing for the sound of the truck. Horrible. A K-5 Blazer does NOT sound like that. I just can't stand when they do that. Heck, you can record the actual sound of the truck and dub it in for the sake of volume control.

The stunts were pretty cool and the acting wasn't half bad. Overall I gave it a 6. Good film for a night at the house with nothing on television and certainly better than some of the other crap on Netflix.

Bad movie

[Jonrehn · 3/10 · 18 December 2005]

For the guy who said Black hummer you have to be joking... Its more like Full sized blazer or Bronco. The movie itself i thought would be at least a cool car chase movie. Nope it was pretty lame the guy only had a tire iron that he didn't do anything with through out the entire movie but drop it. Somehow the Killer spent all this time chaining all the doors and cutting all the video cams. Why consider it was the main old fart doing all the killing. Though it did show the Gold digging wife that had.. and his rather lousy car.

The stupid ending of the movie.... Where did you park you car? oh noooo they have to go back down their again.. .maybe they should make part2..

Its amazing that the cops don't arrest him either for 1. stealing a cop car. 2 crashing the cop car.. (oh wait he didn't' have seat belt on and smashed a 6200 pd truck. ) he never moved... or hit the windshield. Just a horrible movie... i want my money back.

Made by folks who should make movies for a living

[MBunge · 6/10 · 11 May 2011]

This low budget suspense thriller is a great example of what more low budget filmmakers should strive for. Throttle is a solid idea underlying a well thought out story and brought to life by a capable cast and crew. It's got just enough sizzle to hold the audience's attention and just enough substance to make them care about how things turn out. It's neither self-indulgent nor self-referential and it doesn't try too hard. This is a good and solid piece of entertainment.

Tom Weaver (Grayson McCouch) works at a financial company. He seems to have a great job and a beautiful wife named Molly (Amy Locane). It's not all that it seems, though. Tom thinks his wife is cheating on him and he's about to conspire with his smarmy co-worker Gavin (Adrian Paul) on a scheme to steal 10 million dollars and transfer it into offshore accounts. Tom and Gavin meet one night at their offices to pull off the scam and seemingly succeed. But then Tom finds himself trapped in the bottom level of the building's underground parking garage, pursued by a man in a souped-up black truck who wants to kill Tom and anyone else who gets in his way.

It wouldn't be far off to say this movie is like Duel in a parking garage. However, Throttle does not make the classic mistake of being nothing but a clever concept. Good stories generally have secondary conflicts and relationships woven through and around the concept, in this case it being Tom's relationship with Molly and his inner conflict over the criminal act he's committed. Those elements not only flesh out the film so it's more than a guy running hither and yon in fear of his life, they also give you a reason to care about the guy and whether or not he gets killed. Too many movies simply assume the audience's interest in their main character and never give you any reason to identify with him or root for her to succeed.

Throttle also looks very good. In fairness, this isn't all that cheap a production as low budget filmmaking goes. There's more stunt work and destruction here than could be paid for with a couple of credit cards. But no matter how much money you have and no matter what level of skill you possess, you can always make things look good by working within your limitations. This film has just a few action sequences and the rest is good camera placement and sharp editing. A lot of the shots are pretty basic, but they're arranged and executed with talent and vision. Visuals don't have to be complex to be compelling. These filmmakers take maximum advantage of their parking garage setting and something as ordinary as bright light to create some impressive imagery.

Now, it's not like the movie is perfect. It indulges in too many flashbacks, particularly ones that remind us of stuff previously shown in the film. The killer also has way too much motivation and spends too much time explaining it all. There's also an unnecessary does of extra drama squeezed into the conclusion.

Throttle is an exciting and scary tale told with a little intelligence and a lot of craft. The people who made this movie are people who should make movies for a living. You can't say that about many low budget filmmakers.

really don't like the guy

[SnoopyStyle · 4/10 · 20 September 2015]

Tom Weaver (Grayson McCouch) is agitated. His wife Molly (Amy Locane) is arguing with him. He arrives at the work underground parking lot. Victor is the new parking attendant working with old friendly Eddie. He's there with Gavin Matheson (Adrian Paul) to use confidential info to steal $10.6 million. He is on edge and runs into the wrong guy in a rundown menacing truck.

I really don't like the guy. At first, I'm willing to give him some slack because he's obviously under some pressure. There are still some limits. I don't care if this guy gets run over. It might actually be fun to see him get splattered. The truck is nice. The actors are not charismatic enough unless they're trying to be grade A douche bags. This movie needs a better lead in a character with more rooting interest.

Decent movie....but a little slow going at times.

[MJohnsontalker · 10/10 · 19 December 2005]

This movie is fairly good but is a little slow going at times. It starts out with a businessman having an argument with some stranger in a pickup. As the movie progresses, we find out the main character has decided to help embezzle some money. He backs out at the last minute and has a fight with his partner in crime, who leaves him in the parking garage, trapped with the maniac of that big pick up truck he had the argument with earlier.

One of the key most important parts of the movie that is often missed is, near the early going of the movie...the main character is passed by an older style car. The car is uncannily similar to the car from the movie...THE DUEL (1971), as is the driver of that car. Foreshadowing?? The fact is also missed that the main characters name is TOM WEAVER...could this perhaps be a nod to Dennis Weaver??

I recommend this movie...but only if you know that you shouldn't be expecting it to be as good as movie with similar themes. Have fun with it, because it is fairly good.

A worthy successor to 'Duel'...

[hughie522 · 6/10 · 21 October 2006]

Why is it that when you use a phrase such as "worthy successor" you sound like a 'Lord of the Rings' fan??? 'Throttle' (or 'No Way Up' as its been released in Australia) doesn't answer this question, but it does provide 90 minutes of good, wholesome entertainment.

Part remake, part tribute, 'No Way Up' shifts the action away from the empty expanse of the highway to an cramped, claustrophobia of an underground car park. Dennis Weaver, our intrepid, glasses-wearing traveling salesman is replace with Tom Weaver, our intrepid, suit-wearing junior executive; his Valiant with a Jaguar. The menacing truck from the original film is replaced with the 21st century equivalent - a 4WD (or 'SUV' or 'generic Jeep' or whatever).

The story remains very much the same: simple premise (a man being stalked by a maniac in a truck), simple execution (the maniac in a truck stalks the man :P). I quite enjoyed 'Duel'. It stands as one of the better "faceless man in a truck stalking hapless person" (we really need a name for that genre) films, and 'No Way Up' is about on the same level. The little in-references to the original film were a nice touch (including a scene with a Dennis Weaver-look-alive and a very familiar looking Valiant :P), and at least show the director appreciates the source material.

A good, enjoyable film, certainly on par with the original and a step above some of the other films of its ilk (ie. 'Octane', 'Roadkill' and 'Black Cadillac' but not quite as good as say 'Dead End'). A must see for fans of the original, though it is best to keep an open mind. I don't usually like remakes, but this film is more of a "tribute" than anything else. Six stars.

A not so thought out scenario!

[jordondave-28085 · 5/10 · 31 March 2023]

(2005) Throttle THRILLER

Co-written and directed by James Seale with yet another rendition of 1971 "Duel" happening in an underground parking garage, when Tom Weaver (Grayson McCouch) went back to retrieve something, he is soon becomes stalked by a trucker to whom viewers are unable to see as a result chasing him driving a bronco with dark windows.

Because the star of the film is barricaded in the parking lot with several floors as well as happened in the middle of the night, and that there are still cars around that I would have smashed every car window to siren every car alarm that I can possibly turn on. That one mad driver can't go after everyone all at the same time.

Boring.

[phishyjerry · 1/10 · 30 March 2013]

Action thriller my ass. This movie is as boring as watching paint dry. I don't understand why he locked his doors with his roof open. You could just reach in and unlock it if you really wanted to steal it. There is no way he would be able to stand let alone walk after his legs were crushed against the wall. Pretty bad acting all the way through. The dude in the viper speeds off and you hear tires squealing but there is no smoke or tire marks left behind. Why doesn't that truck run out of gas throughout the movie. There is no way even a full tank would last all night in a truck that size, even if it was just idling. Which it obviously isn't. What the hell is wrong with the repo man?!?! Is he blind or stupid? (I'm writing this as I watch it) Low budget, two thumbs down

Okayish thriller

[Spaceygirl · 5/10 · 15 July 2008]

'No way up' isn't going to

win any Oscars soon, but thats okay. Its just a fun B-grade high-octane thriller that will pretty much keep you awake on a late night. The best thing about it is Grayson McCouch. Yum, yum, yummy, yum, yum!! He is GORGEOUS! Ladies, trust me on this. If he hones his

craft, he could be a huge star. The film is let down by a bad script and really weak acting. Adrian Paul, admittedly not the worlds best actor, is positively AWFUL and Amy Locane is just as bad. There are also several gaping plot holes, but on the whole, 'No way up' is hugely enjoyable, as long as you not think about how stupid the hero is sometimes.

Watch it

[devilsangelsmurder · 9/10 · 22 September 2005]

I saw this movie the other day, I wasn't expecting too much because I had not heard anything about the movie up to now.

If you've watched a few made for TV movies done by the stations like HBO and the Sci-Fi channel, this runs along those lines as far as quality.

The storyline is simple; A deal has gone bad and the main character needs to escape this underground parking garage while someone is trying to kill him. It's how the story is executed that is done well. The director managed to keep the edge-of-your-seat suspense going throughout the entire film and you keep finding yourself trying to figure out who exactly the mysterious attacker is. One minute you think it's one guy, the next another. I wasn't able to figure it out until they showed who it was.

Pleasantly surprised by this movie, definitely worth the money I spent to see it.

Good Movie With A Good Lesson

[hackraytex · 8/10 · 16 April 2020]

Throttle was a nail biter. The only actor that I knew was Adrian Paul and I try to catch all of his appearances since Highlander. I think this was a different part for Adrian Paul and maybe that is why he wanted to do it. Adrian Paul was not in it much but he managed to appear to kick off the incident that started the difficulties encountered by Grayson McCouch. The movie was fast paced and with few slow parts. I never guessed how it was going to turn out and the editors might want to cover what I am about to say but this is the only way I can say it. The takeaway that I have from this we should all give a greeting to those who we pass at the door when we go to and from work or other activities. They are people too and deserve our consideration and respect since most of us would not want to do their job.

A brilliant movie!

[the-duel-truck-driver · 9/10 · 23 May 2006]

Hi, I just finished watching this movie for the first time. All i can say is WOW! It's brilliant in every way. An excellent gripping plot, superb acting, great stunts and fantastic suspense! The film is clearly based on Spielbergs masterpiece, Duel (1971). It even has the main character from the movie featured in this one as a small cameo! It's full of other links, and the score has similar parts also.

You really get involved in the action with this movie, and you'll be on the edge of your seat all the way!

A fantastic ending, with a great twist tops off the rest of the movie.

Extremely well worth watching!

A fun and absorbing little action thriller

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 1 April 2007]

Smug hot shot yuppie Tom Weaver (a solid performance by Grayson McCouch) sneaks into his office late at night so he can embezzle $10 million dollars from the company he works for. Tom becomes trapped in the office parking garage and gets relentlessly terrorized by a vicious lunatic in a big, grimy, ugly black souped-up truck. Director/co-writer James Seale maintains a constant brisk pace throughout, ably creates plenty of sweaty, nerve-rattling, claustrophobic tension, and stages the copious vehicular carnage with considerable muscular aplomb. Moreover, the central plot has pleasing echoes of "Duel" (a Dennis Weaver lookalike even appears in a quick witty cameo) and the maniac's true identity is genuinely surprising. Popping up in nifty supporting parts are Adrian Paul as Tom's slimy, unscrupulous business partner Gavin Matheson, the lovely Amy Locane as Tom's fed-up wife Molly, Michelle Beisner as Tom's hottie mistress Rebecca, and Dan Mundell as amiable security guard Eddie. Richard Lerner's slick, shadowy cinematography and Neal Acree's stirring'n'spooky score are likewise fine and effective. A satisfying little action thriller.