After the film was broadcast on the TV station, it caused a certain response. Spielberg edited the 74-minute TV version into a 90-minute theater version and participated in the European Film Festival and gained popularity and praise. Some film critics said that the 40-ton truck that killed people for no reason in the film symbolized Americans’ fear of the Vietnam War. Regardless of these excessive readings, the film is top-notch in terms of rhythm and photography. Continually use film techniques to harass the audience, causing the audience to have the same mentality of being chased by the protagonist. The extremely large truck front in the wide-angle lens represents the face of the truck driver who has never seen his face, full of horror, and SUBJECTIVE The interweaving of SHOT and neutral shots convincingly organized the psychological struggle between the two protagonists of the film.
However, the above film reviews reflect details that many viewers have not noticed. In fact, the director is very meticulous and spare no effort in shaping the character of the protagonist David Mann. The shaping of this character runs through a number of details in the first half of the film, which has already made a reasonable pavement for any plot that will happen next. As a salesperson, the protagonist David Mann is used to being humble in front of customers, and at the same time timid and uninspiring. He is also obedient to his wife. Even when a person named Steve Henderson tried to rape his wife at a party, he had no choice but to swallow (see the section on the protagonist calling his wife at the gas station). The director focused on portraying such a "weak" man with soft ears (should be despised by many normal men).
In the early morning of the weekend, the protagonist David, with deep guilt for his wife (see above), drove alone on the empty intercontinental highway. The questionnaire broadcast on the radio resonated with him (see about the fifth minute of the film). It makes him feel that there is still someone to padded himself. Therefore, in the face of a dilapidated tanker in the way, he chose to overtake without hesitation. After the two sides overtook each other for the first time, David was very disdainful of tank trucks. Until the protagonist finishes refueling for the first time, he and the tanker pass each other for the second time. Under the spoof of the tanker truck driver, David's self-identity impulse to seek change and breakthrough was aroused. When he passed the truck from the small road, he behaved quite proudly. With the continuous effort of the tanker truck driver, driving him to 90 miles per hour and crashing into the guardrail of the restaurant, David's timid and fearful character once again became prominent. In the restaurant, I first comforted myself, asked and answered questions, and then became suspicious. Finally, there was a misunderstanding conflict with another innocent truck driver. As the story progresses, the tanker truck driver has been eyeing David, always in the shadows, and must want to take his life. The protagonist's mentality from the beginning of disdain and pride quickly evolved into anxiety and fear, but he never despaired. After N rounds of competition, the weak finally defeated the strong.
This certainly fulfills a Chinese saying: Rabbits will bite when they are anxious. It also shows that human potential can actually be infinitely stimulated. It doesn't matter whether your personality is extrovert or introvert; your acting style is either competitive or conscientious. When your fundamental rights are infringed, when your opponents make it impossible to protect your right to survival, you can only use your life as a bet and stay with you to the end. No matter how strong the opponent is, in the end, he can only end up with "playing all tricks too clever, and losing his life."
