Summary
Growing up, the fairy taleLittle Red Riding Hoodwas required reading worldwide.
When the Big Bad Wolf kills the young child’s grandmother, it is downright scary.
What Is ‘Freeway’ About?
Image by Federico Napoli
When Bob insults and denigrates her, she pops electric with her foul-mouthed but fearless demeanor.
Still, her presence on screen is enormous.
The Reese we know and love is subtly subversive in this classic ’90s teen thriller.
In Freeway, troubled teenager Vanessa Lutz, escaping a dysfunctional family and her mother’s recent arrest, embarks on a journey to find her estranged grandmother. On the way, she hitches a ride with the charming yet sadistic serial killer Bob Wolverton, setting the stage for a dangerous encounter.
In this moment, she takes control of the situation and her character arc.
She has a bravado and attitude that is impossible for such a slight, diminutive actress.
She deftly interweaves a genuine naivete with a kick-ass physicality, becoming an anti-heroine.
It is just the beginning of the cat-and-mouse game inFreewaythat is as brutal as unflinching.
No one is safe from Vanessa’s angry and mean streak.
She has a handful of racially charged epithets for the hard-charging Detective Breer (Bodison).
While in prison, she finally gets diagnosed with an anti-social personality disorder, only confirming the obvious.
What Bright and Witherspoon do so effectively inFreewayis avoiding making Vanessa the helpless “babe in the woods.
As Bob lies under the covers trying to lure Vanessa closer, she doesn’t buy it.
Witherspoon brings the movie to a fitting conclusion, showing tremendous athleticism and physicality, choking Bob to death.
Freewayshould be appreciated as an outlier in the dynamic and versatile actor’s storied career.
It is easily her most twisted and macabre performance.
Freewayis currently available to stream on Prime Video in the U.S.
WATCH ON PRIME VIDEO
Image via Republic Pictures
