Switchback is somewhat reminiscent of the later Clay Pigeons (1998) (albeit played straight), while its final quarter turns into a sort of psycho-thriller version of Runaway Train (1985). Jeb Stuart’s script does a fair job in turning most of the principals into suspects where no character is as they initially seem. Ambiguous clues are littered throughout the film – the killer may be a doctor, Jared Leto is revealed as a disbarred doctor; the killer is a sexual pervert, Danny Glover’s car is pasted with pornographic pictures; the car wanted is the same one Glover is driving; what is the significance of the phrase 21:8? However Jeb Stuart never quite puts the twists on the plot the way he really should. Switchback is a film that grips in moments but at other times seems large and unwieldly, with Stuart never quite manipulating the clues enough to keep one constantly unaware or on the edge of the seat. And Stuart never ties the whole ancillary subplot that follows Danny Glover and Jared Leto’s journey across the state to the main action in any way – the purpose of it being there is solely to make the two of them into suspects.

However Stuart fares far better as director. The suspense sequences are built with some tension – like the sequence where Danny Glover saves Jared Leto from a bunch of rednecks in a bar. Stuart even manages to invest the old device of a car hanging on the edge of a cliff with considerable tension. He is particularly adept in the scenes with Dennis Quaid charging into a hostage situation unconcerned about the threats being made, or where he calls the lawyer’s bluff. And the scenes fighting around the wings on the outside of a train make for an excellent climax.

Stuart is also serviced by a top notch cast. Dennis Quaid gives one of his best performances in some time as the tightly emotionally-lipped FBI agent. Danny Glover plays quite effectively against the good guy typecasting he has received in the likes of the Lethal Weapon films, giving a performance where friendliness sits alongside a swaggering danger. (Although at the final revelation that he is the killer, Glover never quite succeeds in convincing you he is the genius nemesis the film makes him out to be). The best acting in the film though comes from R. Lee Ermey as the small town sheriff, a performance that balances wry hard-headedness with gut instinct to surprisingly good-natured ends.

Despite the promise shown here, Switchback has been the one and only directorial outing from Jeb Stuart and he appears to have subsequently vanished from the film industry, even in a writing capacity. His other scripts of genre note are the monster movie Leviathan (1989) and the legal/serial killer thriller Just Cause (1995).