Jul 16

Jul 16 North Bend Film Festival movie review: 'Tailgate'

*(Image courtesy North Bend Film Festival.)*

An obnoxious driver offends the wrong motorist in the Dutch thriller 'Tailgate' (screening during the 2021 North Bend Film Festival).

In short: Reckless driver Hans (Jeroen Spitzenberger) finds himself and his family pursued and terrorized by the vengeful van driver (Willem de Wolf) he chose to tailgate.

The opening sequence absolutely legitimizes the rest of the film: a desperate man fleeing for his life. His pursuer is a tall, calm, steel-eyed pest exterminator in a Tyvek suit. This pursuer absolutely has murderous intent - but the most chilling aspect of this villain: his methodical, unrushed and focused hunt. He doesn't run and he doesn't even appear angry - but in less than 5 minutes, this relentless stalker proves he is a man not to be crossed.

'Tailgate' is a morality play wrapped in the thriller genre. There's a whole subcategory of thrillers and/or horror movies pitting some sort of elemental evil against a terribly flawed protagonist - think 'Thinner' or virtually every 'Tales from the Crypt' episode. These selfish protagonists, to some degree, bring down the antagonist's wrath upon themselves. Enter the other half of 'Tailgate': Hans, an objectively rude asshat with little regard for anyone except himself. The exterminator seems to exist as some sort of vengeful defender of polite driving etiquette - and the way Hans thoughtlessly speeds and weaves through traffic, it almost seems inevitable that Hans would get some sort of comeuppance. It’s impossible to empathize with the cold-blooded psychopath killer - but Hans’ arrogance sure makes it very difficult to root for him.

This drawn out road rage cautionary tale is essentially a drawn out chase sequence that strains credibility at times. The story is fundamentally rooted in the entirely relatable experience of dangerous driving - either the banal self-justification of excessive speeding or the jolt of adrenaline after being narrowly cut off on the road. So the exterminator's seemingly supernatural ability to follow or catch up to Hans defies any reasonable explanation. This doesn't square with the film's otherwise rather grounded approach. One scene literally has Hans driving away ... with the exterminator just standing, watching Hans drive away ... and in the very next scene, the exterminator is right behind Hans. If the exterminator is simply always going to show up, without any reasonable explanation, that in itself decreases tension. It's actually less scary when the audience just knows the antagonist, despite any logic or reason, is just around any corner.

At its core, 'Tailgate' is less about some unyielding murderous psychopath - it's more interested in the self-centered jackasses of the world just bulldozing their way through daily life. 'Tailgate' doesn't even attempt to characterize the exterminator - he apparently has two modes: easily offended driver and judge/jury/execution of the open road, where the sentence for rude driving is death. At the outset, Hans is a cocksure, flippant and easily annoyed husband, father and son. Even in the end Hans openly wonders 'what about me?' But the relentless, day-long pursuit slowly tears down Hans, reducing him to the point of total emasculation. 'Tailgate' earns points for pushing its chest-thumping protagonist to a breaking point when faced with an unforgiving, relentless person who simply not put up with Hans' jackassery.

Final verdict: 'Tailgate' is an entertaining, fun (if hyperbolic) cat-and-mouse thriller that pits an offended driver against the bluster of toxic masculinity.