George Taylor Sigh. Another lame, predictable 'action' movie. This one has a down on his luck trucker blackmailed into smuggling weapons by having his family kidnapped. Really a paint by numbers movie, is there any doubt as to how things will end

kapelusznik18 ***SPOILERS*** Better then you would have expected action flick staring the late, who sadly left us in 2009, Patrick Swayze as trucker Jack Crews who's house as well as future of his family in on the line if he doesn't come up with $10,000.00 to pay off him home mortgage or else end up being thrown out on the street. With his commercial license suspended due to a vehicular homicide conviction Jack has no choice but to take a job gun running military hardware from Atlanta to Newark for the mob that if caught can put him away for the rest of his life.While in transit the person who organized the gun running operation Frank Cutler,Graham Beckel, has a falling out with his partner Red, Meat Loaf, putting Jack behind the eight ball with Red doing everything to keep him from making the trip. That includes Red having Jackk's wife & daughter Melanie & Tracy, Brenda Strong & Erin Broderick, kidnapped and threatened with death if he tries to successfully complete it! Non-stop action on the highways and side roads from Georgia to New Jersey with Jack pulling out all stops and wrecking some dozen cars and trucks as he's chased by Red's goons as well as the FBI and ATF lead by Agents Allen "Butterball" Ford, Charles C. Dutton, and Joe McClaren,Stephen Tobolowsky, trying to-For different reasons-to stop him.****SPOILERS**** Very shocking and unexpected final just when you thought that the movie was finally over with a fired up Red who already had his goose cooked by Jack-And by now having completely lost it- and the ATF & FBI making a last desperate attempt to knock off Jack and his family just for sheer and naked revenge. That in Jack dumping all the $3000,000.00 worth in military equipment on his truck with the help of his trucker partner Earl, Randy Travis, into Chesapeake Bay only to get himself burned to a crisp and-as for his Meatloaf cooked well done-pulverized in the end.

sol- Desperate for money, a former truck driver with a suspended licence reluctantly takes a job driving unspecified contraband across the country, but a double cross results in things being less straightforward than they first seem in this high octane action film starring Patrick Swayze. The title refers to a common hallucination among sleep deprived drivers (which the film hauntingly depicts in flashback at one point) but it actually has very little bearing on the central story, other than it being the reason why Swayze lost his licence. There is also an actual black dog in the film, but again its purpose is minimal, a lame joke or two aside. And yet, while reading up about the actual 'black dog' legend is in many ways more interesting than the film itself, 'Black Dog' offers a pretty decent ride. The story is too sentimental for its own good as Swayze is saddled with a beautiful doting daughter and wife who are just so desperately short on cash, and a maudlin music score does not help, but the action sequences -- most of them filmed on moving vehicles (!) -- are quite well assembled. The movie also successfully derives humour from Stephen Tobolowsky and Charles S. Dutton as government agents from different sectors who keep clashing in funny ways (Tobolowsky reckons that Dutton gets angry so easily due to masculinity issues, etc.). With two-dimensional villains, a plot that does not entirely make sense and the aforementioned heavy sentiment, this is a flawed film for sure, but it is also nowhere near as worthless as some out there would suggest.

lost-in-limbo You get plenty bang for your buck in the on-the-road action joint "Black Dog". Ex-con Jack Crews unwillingly agrees to drive a semi-trailer loaded with illegal weapons from Georgia to New Jersey in order to save his family. While it might be a one-idea action fling, it's got enough gusto and energy making it predictably routine, but still rousing Mack truck ride packed with smashing stunt work that's nothing short than spectacular. Total destruction follows. It's dangerous and it shows (look at the chase through the hills), as the imagery is important due to its simplicity. The script is thick with drama, but this never takes away from the thrills or the build of them. Even though the ending was overly cheery for my liking. Patrick Swayze emit's a natural coolness to his laid-back ex-con character that sure knows how to handle a rig. Then chuck in the villains (hit-men, bikers and FBI) who hound Swayze, where you have the larger-than-life Meat Loaf and the usual twists and turns. Distinguishable, but competently done and very exciting as we get the screeching guitar riffs to remind us that. "That son of a b!tch can drive"