Midnight Ride

Despite receiving top billing, I wouldn't call this a Dudikoff movie. It's Mark Hamill's movie all the way, as the former Luke Skywalker chews the scenery and steals the entire film. In a role that again demonstrates Hamill's versatile talent, he plays a mental patient who has escaped from his hospital to visit his doctor, Robert Mitchum in a small supporting role towards the end of the film. After an argument, Dudikoff's wife leaves him and goes to see her sister, picking up hitchhiking Hamill along the way. Dudikoff borrows his friend's car and sets out to find her, unaware of the danger she will soon be in. As much as I like to see Hamill play good guys, he always makes a delightful bad guy, and his role here is one of his best psychotic characters. Even when he's playing nice there's an underlining sense of uncertainly. The wife finds out Hamill is a psycho when he kills a hotel clerk and fashions a necklace out of her fake eye, dangling it from his finger and asking if she likes it. Dudikoff soon catches up, but learning he's a cop, Hamill forces the wife to hightail it, setting off a dangerous game of pursuit. Dudikoff thinks his wife is trying to get away with another man, and the entire time, always ends up one step behind. At one point he loses his car, forcing him to steal another from a car carrier truck as it speeds down the highway. (A great scene, by the way).

There's plenty of action: car chases, explosions, car chases, explosions, and one tense scene in which Hamill straps Dudikoff to the hood of a taxi cab and proceeds to slam repeatedly into the rear of a gas tanker (the driver of which must be completely unable to feel the hits his vehicle is taking). The climax at a hospital is pretty good as well, with a tense final encounter between Dudikoff and Hamill on the roof of the building. The gritty cinematography helps give the film a horror movie-like tone. I just wish we had known a bit more about Dudikoff and his wife. All we know is that he and a friend helped get her out of Russia, though how we are never told. But that little unknown plot point aside, MIDNIGHT RIDE is effective as a creepy little road movie, and fans of those should enjoy it. It would make a terrific Saturday triple-bill with DUEL and THE NATURE OF THE BEAST.

Michael Dudikoff stars as Lawson a police officer who tracks down Justin a hitch-hiker who has kidnapped Lawson's wife Lara in this so-so actioner that benefits from some pretty decent actionscenes as well as Mark Hamill's over the top performance make this one mildly diverting. Robert Mitchum also lends some class as Hamill's doctor.

While I had actually never heard about this 1990 thriller titled "Midnight Ride", as I stumbled upon it by random chance here in 2025, of course I opted to watch it. Why? Well, because I hadn't already seen it, and also because it had Mark Hamill on the cast list.

Writers Russell V. Manzatt and Bob Bralver put together a fair enough script and storyline. It was a pretty straightforward script and narrative. Though, I will say that I was adequately entertained throughout the course of the 88 minutes that the movie ran for.

The acting performances in the movie were good, and I was especially thrilled with Mark Hamill's somewhat psychotic performance as the killer Justin Mckay. The movie also had Michael Dudikoff and Robert Mitchum on the cast list, so there were some familiar faces.

This was a watchable movie, for sure, but hardly an outstanding thriller experience. Nor is it a movie that warrants more than a single viewing. And truth be told, it was solely because of Mark Hamill's creepy performance that the movie stayed afloat.

My rating of director Bob Bralver's 1990 movie "Midnight Ride" lands on a five out of ten stars.

The basic plot, A young Russian woman named Laura (Savina Gersak) leaves her husband who also happens to be a cop, later on she picks up a young hitchhiker Justin McKay (Mark Hamil) who surprise surprise turns out to be a psychopath and takes her hostage while he goes on a killing spree so he can meet up with his Doctor, while her cop husband is in hot pursuit.

Midnight Ride is a bit of a strange movie, as it tries to blend Action and slasher together and it works most of the time, as I found this movie a hell of a fun ride, although it does having plot holes and lacks suspense, but all that can be forgiven. Mark Hamil plays a part a million light years away from Luke Skywalker here playing a psychopath, which I rather enjoyed, although it was a bit hammy and unconvincing at times. Michael Dudikoff plays the cop husband pretty well, I found him very charming and capable as the leading man. But I didn't find Savina Gersak very convincing at all, she's supposed to be the terrified victim, but I found her very weak and disappointing and I think that this movie would have been better if they had a better actress in that part.

The film has some really great action moments. In particular, there's a terrific Mardi Gras Massacre sequence that's one for the books. Some of the action toward the end is hit and miss (Dudikoff's encounters with the Pentangle in the swamp is kinda anti-climatic) but the finale is thoroughly awesome. It also manages to have its share of solid action beats (the bus chase was pretty good). Plus, it moves along at a steady clip, which helps make you forget about the lapses in logic. But overall I found this movie fun and entertaining, the scenes with Mark Hamil are the real highlight even if they were hysterically funny, like when he tries to attack a female victim, But I did enjoy the final scenes between him and Dudikoff in the steam factory and the hospital scene.

So all in all okay Midnight Ride is a copy of the far superior Hitcher, but it's not a bad one and this should get a DVD release, because I enjoyed it.

This movie is GREAT! For anyone who doesn't like it, doesn't get it. And, oh yeah, get a sense of humor (a black one would be best). No matter how many times she escapes, Mark Hamill just keeps showing up. Driving the bus was my favorite. His insane driving is ridiculous, but it's hysterical that his hands are always at 10 & 2! The exploding cars had us rolling. Also, how many cars is her husband, the cop, going to steal? My favorite was off the moving car hauler. Appreciate it for what it is, & you'll have a good time.