Those responsible for recent murder mystery movies, where the killer's identity is unknown for most of the film, have forgotten a key element of that genre. That's the red herring factor, where the audience is led -- and usually misled -- to believe certain key people may be the suspect, or that certain facts may be important when in reality they're a dead end. Written and directed by first time director Jeb Stuart, "Switchback" is a prime example. Stuart (writer of "Die Hard" and "The Fugitive") obviously has a knack for storytelling. Nevertheless, his foray into this genre is rather flat and often keeps the audience at arms' length from the story.
We have three main characters here (not including the sherif who's too localized to be a prime suspect), so why not make all of them strong candidates of being the villain? Quaid's Lacrosse character is perfectly set up for that. He's very non-emotional and perhaps too determined to find his man (we later learn it's for different reasons) -- and his job would be a perfect alibi for a killer. Then there's Glover who plays the friendliest man on Earth that everyone seems to know -- and that's another good cover. Finally, there's Leto's drifter character who's mysteriously desperate to get across the country. A good set up? Yes, but unfortunately the plot offers little in the way of deception, thus allowing the audience to figure out way too soon the killer's identity.
Sometimes that's not such a bad thing, for the audience in such cases has superior position where we worry about the other characters who haven't figured everything out yet. That often leads to highly suspenseful close calls for the "good guys." Yet Stuart doesn't go that route until the very end and instead tries to lead us along while we're already way ahead of him. By doing so, he allows the story to lose momentum, and the audience to lose interest in the characters, the story, and its resolution. He also focuses way too much time on the election battle between the sheriff and the police chief that never goes anywhere and comes off as tofu -- a bland substance simply used as filler.
Regarding the performances, only Glover gets a role to sink his teeth into, and he plays the friendly guy with a dark side rather well. However, he certainly won't go down in the annals of villains as anyone of note. Quaid, whom we've always liked in most every project he's been in, plays his character true to what would be expected of a man whose son has been kidnaped. Yet, his nearly emotionless passion to find this guy makes him unapproachable, and he loses empathy votes from the audience. If he's the hero, we need to care for him in order to root for his success. As it is, we understand him, but don't completely feel his pain. Again, all of that would have worked had he been made a suspect, but that's never the case. Leto falls into the same category -- we never know much about him and thus don't really care what happens.
There are a few fun action sequences, including a car out on the edge of a snowy cliff, and another with a fight occurring on a train's fold out wings (that I had never heard of nor seen before) with a narrow tunnel approaching, both of which show that Stuart can handle such material. It's just too bad that he seemingly focused more on his first time direction than on his previous mastered skill of screenwriting. Similarly, sometimes the interesting part of this genre is the competition between the killer and the cop, where it becomes something of a chess match between the two. That element is present in this film, but Stuart simply has Quaid describe it instead of allowing us to see it unfold -- and that's certainly not as effective. It's like reading about a football game instead of actually being there watching it. Had we cared for more the characters and/or had there been more "fun" in the mystery of the whodunit, this would have been a much better film. As it stands, it looks and feels much like the many other run-of-the-mill suspense thrillers that are released year after year. That being the case, we give "Switchback" a 5 out of 10.
![[Screen It]](https://www.screenit.com/images/screenit_subscriber_logo.jpg){kind=logo}
![[Around the World in 80 Days]](https://www.screenit.com/images/posters/movies/around_the_world_in_80_days_2022_small.jpg)
![[Family Camp]](https://www.screenit.com/images/posters/movies/family_camp_small.jpg)
![[Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness]](https://www.screenit.com/images/posters/movies/doctor_strange_in_the_multiverse_of_madness_small.jpg)