From Jeremy Kibler

One part character study and another part road thriller, The Passenger is cruelly tense and disturbing. One might equate it to The Hitcher or a millennial Falling Down with a plus one, but director Carter Smith (The Ruins) and writer Jack Stanley (Lou) pave their own way with this startlingly well-acted small-town nightmare. 

21-year-old Randy Bradley, played by Johnny Berchtold, did something in second grade that held him back. He’s troubled and emotionally closed-off but has enough motivation to get up and go to his fast-food job. This work day just happens to be the day his co-worker, Benson (Kyle Gallner), loses it and shoots two bullying co-workers and their boss. Randy is a witness and now an accomplice when Benson drives him around, forcing Randy to stick up for himself as they make a few more stops. Benson may be a psychopath who thinks he’s in charge, but Randy will have to step up eventually.

Mainly a two-character piece that takes place all in one day, The Passenger is conversation-heavy but never once tedious. Directed as tautly as the skin on one’s face by Carter Smith, the film somehow toes the line enough to avoid being gratuitous or exploitative. Past the midway mark is the film’s centerpiece, a 14-year reunion with Randy’s former teacher, Miss Beard (Liza Weil), who wears an eyepatch. Weil, known best as Rory Gilmore’s extremely type-A friend Paris in Gilmore Girls, doesn’t get a ton of screen time, but she makes a lasting impression as Miss Beard, who has had time to heal and forgive after a life-altering incident with Randy. 

Randy remains stunned and passive (like, say, a passenger) for the first half, but Johnny Berchtold does eventually imbue the character with more agency. Watching such a meek character go along with a spree killer would seem frustrating, although there’s more to Randy underneath the surface of Berchtold’s internal performance. Kyle Gallner has a way of being the most charismatic person in the room but also a dangerous creep to be feared. With Benson being like a rattlesnake that could strike at any moment, one worries whenever he enters a room with innocent people. Gallner makes Benson feel like a menacing monster, but he’s still a human being. 

The Passenger never once pulls any punches with the bursts of violence along the way that keep one holding their breath. This isn’t an easy film, nor does it have to be, but it sure is hard to shake, not only in what it shows but in what it doesn’t show or say.

The Passenger will be available on demand and digital on August 4, 2023. 

Rating: 3.5/5

Follow Jeremy at @JKiblerFilm