Just got back from spring break. Very little happened. I’m sure there
was something I was going to editorialize about at the beginning of this
review. I’m also quite sure that I’ve firmly forgotten what it was. So,
with just a very little further adieu, here’s an extended version of the
last half of Riding With Death…uh…I mean, Shaker Run, of course.
Judd, our hero for lack of a better word, is a racecar driver. He did
not, however, go quite so goddamn fast as some. In fact, he can barely make
his fairy pink Trans-Am jump over a pile of cars. He crashes in the middle
of the pile, messes up some mechanical stuff, and makes Casey fix it. Cut
to Wayne Manor, where an evil guy takes a tour of a quarantine room.
Something fishy and medical is going on here.
While Casey finishes up the car, we’re shown some lumpy British people
in bed. They’re talking about one of their friends that died, and about
stealing the virus and getting it into safe hands. After some of those
good ol’ “oops, our main characters just crossed paths and they didn’t even
know it!” gags, Christine, the British girl, finally tracks down Judd and
Casey at a racecar show. After they perform their stunt, she hires them to
drive the virus across the country to deliver it into “safe hands.” Except,
of course, she doesn’t tell them what it is. We have to leave room for there
to be pointless exposition dialogue later, or the movie would be over in
fifteen minutes. Oh, and failed teen heartthrob Leif Garrett says something
very odd.
Christine then goes to meet a guy named Barry on a mountain lookout. He
assures her safe passage. Christine returns to Wayne Manor (graphic nov...
huh? Oh, right. I already did that joke in another review) to steal the
virus, and brings it to Casey and Judd in one of those fancy metal suitcases
with biohazard stickers on it. I’ve always wanted to have one of those and
then use it to carry my clothes and stuff in. Freak out security guards at
the airport. Oh, shut up. I know you think it’s funny too. Don’t deny it.
The evil corporate guys from the beginning who keep all their friends in
quarantine discover their pet bio-weapon is missing. Casey and Judd fiddle
with the car to make it go really fast. The evil Gilbert Godfried clone
garottes Christine’s boyfriend and makes him snitch on her. Some boyfriend.
All that undying love crap just tossed out the window as soon as a genetically
engineered killer version of the USA Up All Night host shows up on his
doorstep. I know it would take at least the evil killer clones of all of the
annoying cast of that god awful Oxygen show Keeping Secrets or whatever the
hell it’s called for me to give up Malorie for stealing a top-secret super-virus
from a bunch of evil British Illuminati wannabes. Well, that was a long-winded
sentence, wasn’t it? Let’s get on with the movie, shall we?
The evil guys send out a team of mercenaries to hunt down our intrepid
threesome. There’s a big gun battle, and somebody’s helicopter (Barry’s, I
think) gets shot down. Doesn’t matter. There’s a pretty explosion and our
heroes escape. Christine calls Barry, and he tells them to stay put, but the
evil guys catch up to them and they have to employ the “Monty Python
maneuver”. Another car chase ensues. There’s some hilarity with a ladder.
Can’t rightly remember what it was, but that’s what it says in my notes.
When they get away, Judd freaks out about being chased all the time and
tries to open the box. Christine stops him and tells him and Casey the story
about the virus. Michael, Christine’s Godfried-whipped boyfriend, meets up
with Barry. Barry sends him to get the virus from her. Meanwhile, now it’s
time for Judd to spill his story. He tells Christine about how he ran over
Casey’s dad in a pit crew and just kind of became his surrogate father. Uh
oh! Our heroes have hit a bit of a snag. The evil guys have got the cops to
put up a roadblock. And, there’s another car chase. If it’s one thing this
movie delivers on, it’s car chases. There’s one about every ten or fifteen
minutes.
They escape once more, this time by driving on to one of those big car-hauling
ferries. They find an empty room and get some rest. Judd tells Christine
that the CIA are’t the “safe hands” she believes 'em to be, that they’ll just
do nasty things to other people with it. The evil guys catch up to them on
the boat, they escape in another car chase, evil Gilbert wrecks his car and
steals a sports car. He chases them up a mountain, and shoots Judd in the
arm. Casey throws some bottles of oil at Gilbert and he crashes. A helicopter
approaches, but they hide themselves in a barn and fix up Judd’s arm.
The evil guys trace them to the barn. They escape in a hail of gunfire
for one last car chase. A CIA chopper arrives as reinforcements. Well,
really all they want to do is airlift the box with the virus out and let Casey,
Judd, and Christine fend for themselves. Christine, however, hooks the airlift
cable to the car, giving the also-sort-of-evil Barry no choice but to rescue
them. They fly out over the edge of a cliff carried by the chopper while all
the bad guys’ vehicles launch themselves to a fiery death, one after the
other. I think there was another virus the movie didn’t tell us about which
makes people forget what brake pedals are. Anyway, the end.
This is the last movie of my first review notebook. Not a bad way to go
out, either. It’s really not too terrible a movie. Sure, it’s boring in some
parts, but there’s always something to make fun of going on. And it did give
birth to one of those great jokes that you can use to make all your friends
spray beef stew and gerbils out of their noses when they’re least expecting
it. Really, the only complaint is, wouldn’t the virus have been more easily
transported in a car a little less conspicuous than a BRIGHT PINK FIREBIRD!?
Oh well. If it had all gone off without a hitch, that guy on the dock would
have been able to enjoy his sandwich, and a big-ass plate glass window would
have gone unbroken. We can’t have that, now can we?
Yeah, Smoky and the Bandit was
...what? Oh, right. Riding With Death was kinda...huh? Dammit.
You get the idea. At least it's a better Leif Garrett movie than
Cheerleader Camp.