Big Driver

Watched the movie despite the reviews because of Steven King's writing it. Couldn't believe I'd seen the same move - it was a good exercise in psychology. To briefly over the story, a successful author is raped. She avoids telling anyone because she fears retribution, both professional and personal. She soon start hunting her assailant. Some of her behavior isn't helpful or rational. Many times you catch the 'heroine' hallucinating, so was she making it all up? Is she the real killer? The tension was well-done. The plot twists were credible and added to the suspense. So what were the detractors watching?? OK, it wasn't a big-budget movie, but it was certainly entertaining.

This has the creepy overtones of a Stephen King story and the movie does a very good job of delivering on the story.

On the surface we see a successful author of lightweight mysteries, visiting her fans, and enjoying their adulation.

Unbeknownst to the rest of the world, she has a childhood trauma that has given her some unique coping abilities that she has used to be successful.

When trauma hits once again, she copes because she has a genius ability to compartmentalize everything.

At times, I wondered if this was going to be a rehash of Misery or perhaps another take on The Burning Bed.

The movie successfully mixes the seriousness of a near death with lighthearted satire.

Good dialog, good story line, good acting. Characters are developed in an interesting way. My husband and I, who generally prefer action flicks, got this because of Maria Bello, and high marks on this site. Maria, as always, does a great job here. Though this is not really an action film, it kept us entertained and we both enjoyed it. A few somewhat "superficial" moments early in the film, but it gets serious soon. And, as in any other film, there are moments when you say "Just do this or that!" and at least one thing is left unexplained, but it does not spoil the film. Great ending, with a vague reference to an earlier Maria Bello film I'm sure you'll recognize.

The lead actress in this movie gives a staggeringly superb performance.

She is a famous fiction writer who becomes the victim of a horrendous crime and decides to seek revenge.

The problem with this film is that it is presented in the screwball style(the story comes from Stephen King) which turns it into what the English call a 'black comedy' with imaginary characters and objects speaking out loud and the dead talking after their demise. Despite these challenges, the lead player still manages to make this a compelling view:

7/10.

First let me say that the books from Stephen King are always better then the movies they made from it. The movies from his books that were well made are The Shining, Carrie, Stand By me, The green Mile and maybe a couple more. But most of the time the movies don't even come close to the actual quality or suspense of the novel. Anyways, for this movie I didn't read the book so it is difficult to compare them. The movie was okay, a typical revenge movie with typical Stephen King characters. Maria Bello gave an okay performance playing the leading role of the raped woman. The music and sound effects were a bit mediocre. It will not be remembered as the other good adaptations of his books but it's an all right movie for TV. Overall I would give it a 6,5 rating.