FOX HUNT DRIVE

Directed by: Drew Walkup

Starring: Lizzie Zerebko, Michael Olavson, Edward Craig

Alison Meyers is an out of work architect, making ends meet by being a ride-share driver. One evening, while the local news talks about a brutal murder in the area, she picks up a mysterious passenger who may not be all that he first seems…

I have one problem with Fox Hunt Drive and it occurs right at the start. The use of in-media res is so overdone it’s a film-making cliché. Let's show you something exciting from later in the story so you've got something to look forward to while dealing with plot exposition and character development early on. It's my personal bugbear. Having watched the film I can totally understand why they would want to prime the audience in this way, but this film and I did not start on the right foot.

As the film starts proper, we meet Alison as she traverses Orlando transporting passengers. No matter how annoying they are, she gives them a five star rating in the hopes that they will return the favour. There is a comical montage of some of her passengers,  the two teenagers drooling over cars, a housewife oversharing her personal dramas and a couple sitting in icy silence that you could cut with a knife.

Eventually, she goes to pick up  a customer called Neal, but the person who approaches her car looks nothing like the picture on her phone app. For one thing, Neal is black, this guy is white…After a terse conversation however, Alison agrees to take him.

By this point the audience has already been made aware of a murder nearby, a young woman stabbed 8 times. Naturally we are very wary about this person who divulges little information about himself or where he's going. When her passenger asks her to pull into a service station, Alison takes the opportunity while he's out of the car to take a peek inside his bag, and discovers a lot of jewelry with blood on it and a gun. Now she is very wary about her passenger and what his motives may be. It doesn't calm her when he offers her a bottle of soda…which he has already opened.

Although the story focuses on Alison and her mysterious passenger and what his plans might be, it isn't quite as straight forward as you might think. There are other factors that come into play including drug dealers, cops and a mysterious phone call. And although most of the action is centred around Alison's car, there are a couple of segues which help provide some information as to what else is at play on this fateful night.

The script by Adam Armstrong, Marcus Devivo allows for  a lot of interesting information to be parsed out throughout the film, letting the audience slowly piece together the bigger picture while focusing on the small details. Even so, there are some moments hidden in plain sight that won't quite register until later in the film, giving this definite re-watch value.

THE VERDICT

FOX HUNT LANE is the latest instalment of a new genre of "in-car" movies, such as Collarteral, and the recent One Night in Bangkok. As such it delivers the goods - a solid script, two good actors getting to play off each other and a director who knows how to keep "driving around in a car" interesting. My personal issue with the structure though is that opening in-media re scene. I fully understand why it is there (for once) but I still do not believe it is necessary.

8 out of 10 (MikeOutWest)