TRANSIT

"Seconds Apart" director Antonio Negret generates some genuine adrenaline-fueled thrills, chills, and spills in his second feature length release. The rural crime thriller "Transit" qualifies as an exciting road picture about four murderous thieves who tangle with an innocent family in backwater Louisiana over a fortune in stolen loot. The only shortcoming of this above-average but formulaic melodrama is its lackluster ending that deprives the protagonist of any reward for his heroic deeds. Fortunately, the cast is convincing, particularly Jim Caviezel as the devastated dad and James Frain as the desperate villain. The ignorant authorities are clueless about what is happening between the heroes and the villains. Ironically, the lawmen only complicate matters and imperil our hero and his family. Frain looks particularly degenerate as the sleazy gang leader, while Harold Perrineau registers intensely as a trigger-happy henchman. "According to Greta" scenarist Michael Gilvary has cross-stitched the plots from the Dana Andrews' epic "Hot Rods to Hell" and the Audrey Hepburn nail-biter "Wait Until Dark." In `Hot Rods to Hell," rebellious teens terrorize a family on a deserted stretch of highway. In "Wait Until Dark," a deadly drug dealer stashes his narcotics in the blind heroine's luggage for a transoceanic flight and the villains invade her New York apartment.

In "Transit," a quartet of reckless armored car robbers need to get past a police roadblock. They replace the camping gear strapped down to the top of the Sidwell family SUV with their ill-gotten gains. Initially, our heroes have no clue about the dastards after them. Marek (James Frain of "Titus"), Arielle (Diora Baird of "Wedding Crashers"), Losada (Harold Perrineaus of "The Matrix Revolutions"), and Evers (Ryan Donowho of "Broken Flowers") have fooled themselves into believing that they can retrieve their loot from the unsuspecting family before they realize that they've been used as a mule. Naturally, nothing goes right for either side and those are the best dramatic moments. The conflict emerges from the situation. Our hero Nate (Jim Caviezel of "Outlander") has just been paroled from prison. He served time for real estate fraud. Now, Nate is struggling to get his wife Robyn (Elisabeth Röhm of "Abduction") and sons together for a vacation when they run afoul of the bad guys. Some of the action will take you by surprise. Neither Negret nor Gilvary make it easy for either the heroes or their adversaries. No sooner do the villains have the loot than they lose it. Not long after the hero appropriates the millions, he loses it in the swamp.
The black 1972 Chevrolet Chevelle that the villains drive assumes a character of its own and the long shots of it hauling down the highway look as cool as the spinning tire shots. Negret handles the chase sequences with aplomb. The car crash involving the Sheriff Deputy's Crown Victoria is awesome. "Transit" never wears out its welcome.

Absolutely enjoyed this movie to the full. Transit is exactly like the type of movies i like, which is a thriller with some action.
Jim Caveizel plays a dad who is trying to reconnect with his family by taking them camping, unfortunately for them they get caught in a cat and mouse chase with a gruesome gang of 4 who just robbed an armored truck and used the family to sneak the money though a check point.

the film is what you would expect from a chase thriller, with 4 very skilled badies pursuing the normal suburban family through the road, with thrills, some twists and turns, and solid action.
the cast really makes the movie stronger, with the actors playing their parts to perfection. Jim Caveizel was amazing as the Dad who is trying to pull his family out of this trouble.
his wife played by Elizabeth Rohm was also very good, and the bad guys were also well acted in this film, lead by James Frain who has that evil look.

the setting of the film which mostly takes place on the road and in swamps surrounding the road added much to the film, and the actions was very solid with some good production values. the movie never felt like a low budget or a B-movie to me.

in short, one of the better thrillers out there, and im quite surprised how this movie fell below the radar, very enjoyable and entertaining.
I would recommend this highly, and also recommend The Contract which is very similar to this. enjoy

Here's The Lowedown on "Transit" (A Thriller DVD review)...LIKED IT!!

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Genre: 8 Movie: 6

What's it about?
The camping trip was meant to reunite the Sidwell family. When they are hunted and terrorized by violent bank robbers, their very survival will depend on working together.

What did I think?
I threw this in my player not expecting much. Then my alarm went off and I woke up to an intense thriller with all the fat trimmed off. Sometimes you want a simple, straightforward approach to a film with no complications or unecessary twists. When you're in that mood...put this one in your player.