I'm a fan of the original "The Hitcher" staring Rutger Hauer and C. Thomas Howell so I was looking forward to this film. I was curious to see how they'd expand upon the first film.
Interestingly enough, I found that if you've seen the first film, you've seen this film. It's not a shot for shot or scene for scene remake, but it's close. That creates a problem that Hollywood hasn't figured out yet. The remake will be too closely compared to the original and has zero chance of surviving the examination. It's never worked, so why do they keep trying it. Oh yeah, low budget + ticket sales = "who gives a fuck" attitude.
Anyway, if the film were standing on it's own and it wasn't a remake, I'd say it was decent. However, since it is a remake I have no choice, but to compare it to the original, and it doesn't do as well.
First and foremost, Sean Bean is no Rutger Hauer. Rutger Hauer came off as completely insane and you could tell that he had a lot of fun with the role. Sean Bean tried to follow that formula, and that's probably why it didn't work. Don't try to duplicate someone else's work or you come off looking like a cheap copy, especially with worse dialogue. Don't get me wrong, Sean does a decent job, it's just that he had big shoes to fill and less to work with due to poor writing.
Second, I groaned at the politically correct twist. I'm sure it was meant to "surprise" those of us who saw the original, but it sucked. It also highlights one of the reasons why this movie failed as a remake. In the original Rutger toyed with C. Thomas. Here, Sean is toying with a couple, although in the initial setup, he's only toying with the guy ( I point that out because it makes the twist worse). This really shines the spotlight on how "more" can ruin a recipe. The original worked because it was a game of cat and mouse between two people. Throw more people into the mix and the story and all the characters suffer.
Third, while it was close to being a scene by scene remake, they left "the finger" out. How do you do that? That'd be like remaking "Silence of the Lambs (which some asshole will eventually do) and leaving out Dr. Lecter. It was the most famous scene from the original. How do you steal a movie almost scene for scene and then skip the most famous scene? Were they trying to set their movie apart from the original? Do they know how stupid that would be to do since they're making a remake?
Look, this isn't a horrible movie at all. In fact, if you've never seen "The Hitcher", I'm sure this movie provides some thrills. However, if you've seen "The Hitcher" this movie blows compared to the original.
I highly advise anyone to rent the original before watching this version, and honestly, after you've seen the original, why bother with this one?
4 out of 10.