Now Showing: Duel

 

Duel

Genre: Action/Thriller

Director: Jon Watts

Writer: Eden Townsend

Based on the 1971 Short Story by Robert Matheson & Film DUEL

Cast: Nicolas Cage, Michael Madsen, Rupert Grint, Toby Kebbell, Laura Linney (VOICE)

Plot: In the early 1990s, David Mann (Nicolas Cage), a middle-aged salesman is out playing golf with his partners. After showcasing scummy behavior, David gets privately asked to go on a business trip to land a top-level client nobody has been able to close. This puts a strain on his marriage with his wife, Danni (voiced over the phone by Laura Linney), reminding him of their daughter’s birthday party. But, David successfully gaslights her into thinking about how this will better their lives. After late at night, David goes out with his friend, Sam (Toby Kebbell), to drink and watch some strippers.

Waking up drunk in a strange hotel room, Sam took him on the way because they thought it’d be a good idea last night. David gets up to call his wife but the phones are down. David excuses him to find a payphone. Sam cries out to find breakfast as well. David finds the payphone & calls Danni. After getting a verbal lashing, David informs he’s on his way to the meeting. Danni suspects the real reason why but drops it threatening him to call her again soon. He notices a trucker looking at him. After a while staring back, David flips him off which makes the trucker get back into his trucker.

Driving on a business trip in a Plymouth Valiant sedan out in the backroads avoiding the highway, David & Sam talk about Sam’s wanting for a partner but David thinks marriage is a trap. He regrets marrying his side-chick but he admits he’s a womanizer, who loves making money more. Sam thinks that’s sad. David thinks Sam will learn it's unavoidable. Suddenly, they encounter a dilapidated old tanker truck driving slowly in the Mojave Desert. With Sam egging him on, David tries to pass the truck. Suddenly, the truck speeds up, roaring past him, then resumes driving slowly. David’s livid since they only have two days to get to their destination. Sam tries to calm him down but David barks to stay out of it. When Mann overtakes and passes it again, the truck blasts its horn. Getting scared, Sam begs for Mann to pull into a gas station. They stop, and Sam reprimands David for messing with clearly a crazy person. David insults Sam having scared his small pecker. Sam remarks David has a serious case of toxic masculinity. He leaves to calm his nerves. David goes to fill the gas tank. Out of nowhere, the truck parks next to him, with David only able to see the boots of the driver walking on the other side. Mann goes to phone his wife, who’s upset with him after it has been too long since the previous talk. David tries to calm Dani down like usual but it doesn’t work with the presence of the trucker. Dani hangs up on David after he blows up on her. The station attendant tells Sam they need a new radiator hose, but Sam scoffs, believing that the attendant’s trying to sell him an unnecessary replacement part. David warns Sam about the trucker which makes him nervous. David bribes the attendant to distract the trucker (Michael Madsen). After some convincing from Sam, David gives a big enough bribe. As the attendant distracts the driver, David & Sam get into the car to race away. Sam told David this would happen but David only cares about the growing distance.

After a while with Sam driving, the truck catches up and passes them, then blocks their path each time they attempt to pass it. After taunting Mann this way for a while, the driver waves him past, causing Sam to almost collide head-on with an oncoming car. They finally pass the truck using an unpaved turnout next to the highway after David pushes Sam to do it. They pass the truck then David glances at his rear window and waves. The truck briefly slows but then begins tailgating the car at increasingly high speed. The underpowered Plymouth is barely able to stay ahead of the truck. Sam swerves his car off the road, loses control, and slams sideways into a fence across from a rural diner as the truck continues down the road. After David shouts in victory, Sam gets out and rushes to the diner. David gets out to calm some of the locals. When asked what happened, David plays it off as some psycho taking their frustrations on them. He laughs till he sees Sam going to a pay phone. As Sam tries to call corporate, David walks up to stop him noting everything’s fine. Sam remarks he didn’t join this trip to be glorified road kill. After David stares him down, Sam relents and heads to the cafe for a bite hoping key lime pie helps him. David reflects as he calls to his wife only to get her new voice message about leaving him. David hangs up in defeat.

Mann enters the restaurant to compose himself. He apologizes to Sam as he knows he’s the main reason for this “rip from hell” as Sam called it. Sam forgives him making David promise for no more trouble on the way. David excuses himself to the bathroom to clean up as Sam orders pancakes. Upon returning from the restroom, he sees the truck parked outside. He studies the patrons, identifies the other trucker who is wearing boots similar to the truck driver and confronts him. The confused and offended patron attacks Mann leaving his mouth bloody. The cafe owner (Rupert Grint) who broke the fight up tells David & Sam to finish their meal and head out. David tries to argue but Sam apologizes for everything. As Sam hurries to finish his food, David watches the other trucker pissing up a storm but then leaves in a different truck. The tanker truck leaves moments later, indicating that its driver never entered the diner. Sam thinks David is losing his mind since he never saw the oil tanker. After David confesses about how his wife knows his unfaithfulness, Sam agrees to reassure David by checking for it.

Watching Sam head out, David watches Sam check the road from where David said and sees nothing. Shrugging, Sam heads back to the cafe and David relaxes. When the waitress comes, David orders something good to go but as David looks back out, Sam stops seeing something. Out of nowhere, the oil tanker runs Sam over and continues to drive off a bloody trail. The folks in the cafe react quickly as David is left shocked. David walks out to see the last bits of Sam on the road. David looks around and suddenly hears an engine running behind the diner. He begins to see the oil tanker appear. David rushes back to the car and struggles to start it as the oil tanker appears like a giant monster. David gets the car to start with one last gasp and races off like running away from the devil himself.

After resuming his drive, Mann is flagged down by the driver of a school bus whose engine has overheated. While pushing the bus with his car, the front bumper gets caught underneath the bus's rear bumper. The truck appears in a tunnel down the road, causing Mann to panic. He and the bus driver free his car, and Mann flees as the truck arrives and helps push the school bus full of children onto the road.

Mann stops at a railroad crossing and waits for a Southern Pacific freight train to pass through. The truck appears behind and pushes Mann's car towards the oncoming train. Mann stands on the brake and shifts into reverse. As soon as the train passes, Mann floors the accelerator, cross the tracks and runs off the road. The truck continues down the road, and Mann slowly follows.

In an attempt to create more distance between himself and the truck, Mann drives at a very leisurely pace, as other motorists pass him. Once again, he encounters the truck, which has pulled off to the side of the road, waiting for him. The truck pulls out in front of him and starts antagonizing him again.

Mann stops at a gas station with a roadside animal attraction, consisting primarily of rattlesnakes. He calls the police from a telephone booth at the station. During the call, however, the truck drives through the booth, destroying it. Mann narrowly escapes and is chased around the animal attraction by the truck. He can get into his car and speed away. Around a corner, he pulls off the road, hiding behind an embankment as the truck drives past.

After a long wait, Mann heads off again, but the truck is waiting for him down the road. Mann attempts to speed past, but the truck moves across the road, blocking him. He seeks help from an elderly couple in a car, but they depart when the truck backs up towards them at high speed. Determined to fight back, Mann speeds past the truck, which once again begins pursuing him. Mann swerves towards what appears to be a police car, only to realize that the vehicle belongs to a pest control company. Mann continues up a mountain road, aware that the truck cannot match his speed on a grade. Suddenly, the radiator hose on Mann's car breaks, causing the strained engine to overheat and begin to fail. Losing speed, he just manages to reach the summit. He then coasts downhill in neutral, with the truck following. Mann spins out and slams sideways into a cliff wall. He can restart his car and barely escapes being crushed by the truck.

Mann drives up a dirt road to the edge of a canyon with the truck in pursuit. He turns his car to face the oncoming truck; jamming the accelerator down with his briefcase, Mann steers his car toward the truck, jumping free at the last moment. The truck hits the car, which bursts into flames, obscuring the truck driver's view. Pushing the burning car over the cliff, the truck crashes into the canyon. Mann rejoices in his victory. Blood is seen dripping inside the truck's cab. Exhausted from his ordeal, Mann then sits down at the cliff's edge. He tosses pebbles down on the wreckage as the sun sets on the horizon. He begins to walk down the road hoping to get back. A car stops asking him where he’s going. He just wants to go home and apologize to his wife. Thinking this is a good reason to help, they offer a ride back home. David accepts allowing however he wants to be silent only thinking his input would hurt. The car drives off as we hear the sounds of an oil tanker like it’s still chasing David.