Welcome back to Movie Recap. Today I'm gonna show you a 2013 American thriller film called,
Vehicle 19. Spoilers ahead. Sit back, relax and enjoy the video.
The movie starts with a raging sound of sirens coming from the police and an engine accelerating
from the man being chased. He goes through a massive speed but his tire screeches as he
bumps through a metal. Soon after, a helicopter comes in front of him; so, he immediately takes
a rough turn. Unfortunately, he gets bumped in a metal ladder causing his front glass to break.
Tons of siren and air horns are now exchanging sounds while the police come to him,
a huge track breaks the road; so, the man goes to a risky turn, and then a flash
happened with a word “earlier,” as a flashback. After the white light flashes, a man is talking
to his wife on the phone. The woman keeps on saying that the man is late. However,
the husband says that there are delays on the plane, customs, and other things he needs to do
before landing. He says he will be there in twenty minutes and the girl agrees. He hangs up and now,
the man sits on his freshly-rented vehicle. He notices something is different so he
calls in the car rental center; a sales clerk answers but she says the manager is not there
but he can come and wait for a few minutes. As he is running late for his wife, he then refuses
the offer to change the vehicle even if the clerk keeps on insisting on him to come to the office.
He straight away starts the car regardless if he is feeling weird about it. He enters the
expressway with a confused face for he does not know the signs of place posted within the road.
With eyebrows wrinkled, he continues to drive past the road when suddenly a huge
honk disturbs his ear. A van goes straight into him; so, he switches on the right.
While driving, his wife texts him to not drive on the right.
He is now driving on the expressway when he suddenly bumps on a cyclist,
he apologizes and continues to go along the way, reminding himself to stay away from any trouble.
In his driving duration stuck in traffic, he calls his wife. He says he’s in a traffic jam and had
issues in a rental company, thus, he’s late. The wife tells him he knows the security in the area
so he needs to arrive on time. She then cries as his husband tells him he waited for eighteen years
and they want to start something new. The man ends the call with madness and rage.
Suddenly, a ringing sound comes from nowhere; it is not his phone so he looks on the shotgun
compartment. He sees a blackberry phone with an inbox text saying, “Make sure. Keep it clean.” He
loses concentration and air honks are now beeping against him because the traffic jam has now ended.
Upon driving, a kid knocks hardly on his side window; when he can control no more,
he opens it and the girl offers him a charger. As his other side window is also open, the guy
steals his glasses. He then gets frustrated. To ease his anger, he eats a twinkie and opens
water. His twinkie fells down so he grabs it but instead, it’s a gun. With a panic,
he puts it aggressively on the shotgun seat. He pulled over and suddenly, a call from a
blackberry phone rings. It stops as he is about to pick it up and rings again. The man on the
call says he should acknowledge a receipt from the message but he’s confused and replies what
is happening. The man in line asks him where he found the phone and so, the man starts explaining
about the compartment and mistake in the rental car company. However, the man hangs up while he
is still speaking. He then fills with anger and shouts why is there a gun in his car.
With frustration, he puts the gun and the phone in the base and hurriedly gets out
of the car. While walking, the phone rings so he gets back again to answer the call.
He then says he’s not playing the stupid game and he’ll leave the gun and the phone so he’s out;
the man in line says he’s a detective and Michael, the man, is an innocent party.
The detective also states that the car he’s in was supposed to be picked up by one of their officers.
He relieves and now at ease saying that is good news. The detective says they have another car
waiting for him and they will send him the address, and they hang up the call.
After the call ends, a text message arrives and it contains the address
Michael has to go through to get his car. He gets ready to go and get his car but he
cannot seem to find the certain street stated in the text. He calls operators but they cannot
assist him due to a lack of information. He opens his window and asks where the “Smuts Street” is
but the woman speaks in straight Zulu so he just drives along. His mind wants to ask for direction
but it seems like the people he passes are mean and dangerous. As he is going to turn around,
his tire gets stuck in a hole. He keeps on revving his engine but he’s stuck.
He calls his wife and she says he is half an hour late. Michael decides to ask her wife,
Angie if she loves him. He says that if she loves him, she needs to tell him where Smuts Street is
and she won’t ask any questions. He also adds that if he will not be there in twenty minutes,
she will not talk to him ever again. Angie hastily answers and gives him the right directions.
The call drops and he is now ready to go in the given direction, he revives the engine but he
is still stuck. His tires keep on spinning and due to a great force; the trunk gets shaky and a woman
tied up and unconscious gets on the backseat. The woman who is kidnapped wakes up as Michael
opens the backseat’s window. The woman asks if he can untie her and he does the same thing.
Unfortunately, the woman tries to escape and they fought over the gun. The woman asks who
he is because she would not be left with some random guy but Michael just told her to shut up.
A few minutes later, they are now back on the road while the woman just keeps staring at the man.
The car rattles and the gun silently falls on the ground. The woman tells him to turn the
car around as she is pointing the gun towards Michael. He then drives as fast as he can until
he hits the break and the woman goes back and gets no hold of the gun, but the gun
whistles lightly and he gets bullet graffiti. When Michael finds himself okay, he threatens
the girl with a gun and says “Enough.” The woman fearfully agrees but then seconds later,
she opens the backdoor window and tries to escape in the middle of the road. Michael pulls her and
says she must not move. The woman confusingly tells him he does not know what he’s doing.
A ring comes from a call on a blackberry phone, he answers and there goes the detective, telling
him he’s late. He apologizes because he can’t seem to find the address but then the man in line tells
him about him going out of the jail, traveling while not permitted, and his wife at the embassy.
He gives him five minutes to go to the address and if not, they will come for him.
While driving, the woman tells him that she needs to explain the situation. She tells her name,
Rachel Shabangu, and that she works for the National Prosecuting Authority. She just uncovers
information regarding a powerful man, Ben Rose, on various accounts of international sex trafficking.
The last thing she remembers is going home, opening her front door, and waking on a minivan
with him. She thinks she has been kidnapped to prevent the spread of the said information.
Rachel tells him to do the right thing and save her but Michael says just save it to the police.
However, she says that the chief of police is Ben Rose and they want her dead.
They argue because she tells him he’s now involved so, Michael ties her mouth.
As they arrive at the warehouse, a gunshot points against him,
and Rachel tells him to go. She then tells him to give her the gun and shoots those on their back.
Michael drives swiftly and cars chasing them crash on fire;
she then says that there’s people who can help. They go downtown but the first man rejects her.
The other tells her they threatened his son and asks to leave him alone.
As Michael hears the man, he realizes that they might go after his wife. He calls his wife,
Angie, but it can’t be reached. He leaves a voicemail and is eager to go to the embassy.
Rachel warns her that he can’t go there because that is exactly where the enemy is headed.
She grabs the phone and calls Angie’s department but the agent tells her that she just stepped out.
They hurriedly go into the embassy fast; they see men coming to get her.
Immediately, the military surrounding gets back and saves Angie.
However, as the men are throwing bullets against them, Rachel gets shot in the chest.
They immediately go through the underground bottom parking. They find a spot where no one
can see them and they try to push her wound. They try to push harder through the wound but
the blood flow won’t stop. Rachel says she won’t going to make it because there is too much blood.
Michael, on the other hand, cannot accept and he continues to pump her chest.
After a few breaths, she tells him to get his phone and turn the record button on.
She immediately talks telling her name and the date where she got shot. As she goes on through
her testimony, she says that she uncovered a sex trafficking ring and a tail that led back
to the chief of police. She states that she also finds out that other high-ranking officers are
involved, he immediately went to the Judge but she finds herself tied up in a car. She
then concludes her testimony with Michael Woods as a witness.
After recording the testimony, she becomes weaker but Michael says he doesn’t want the
issue on his shoulders. Rachel says to take the recording to the courthouse and find Judge Mzuka,
who is the only person they can trust. Rachel says this now rests on Michael
and she dies while Michael gets frustrated. He wakes up from a nap after putting the
corpse in a parking lot. Michael tries to call his wife but it keeps leading to voicemail.
He feels so weak staring at nowhere when suddenly a man asks him to give his wallet while pointing
a knife at him. Michael weakly points the gun at him and the thief hurriedly runs out.
After a few minutes, the blackberry phone rings and he answers it immediately.
Detective Smith asks him how much has Rachel told him about the situation. The detective
also threatens him that he gets access to the police while Michael knows nothing in the country.
He tells him to turn on the radio and there, an announcement that he,
Michael Woods, is wanted for “murdered” Rachel Shabangu.
The detective tells him that he should stay out of the way no matter what.
He says that his father and the detective have the same laugh and are probably both mean bastards.
He says that he will kill him but he just responds with a powerful swear word. He then throws the
phone outside and splashes liquid all over it. He's now determined to get justice and drives
back again; he tries to call an operator asking for a number of the judge.
In the middle of the road, he sees himself being on the wanted list.
Suddenly, two police cars come on his front; he begins to panic and turns to a car wash station.
While the car is being washed, he begins to fill in sadness and calls her wife.
It ends in voicemail but he continues talking, reminiscing about their one night together
while raining and they just had their bond. It was indeed a good time with them laughing non-stop. He
tells her that the assumptions about him murdering Rachel are never true and he will clear his name
to get back at her. He then tells her that he loves her so much, and the voicemail ends.
After the carwash session, he stops at the spray paint shop, he asks to get his car to
change colors. The man doubts him but Michael gives him his watch, saying that is all he got.
The boss then decides to help him change the color of his car.
The color-changing finishes and he asks the man the direction to the courthouse.
While driving, his phone rings with the judge calling him. He acknowledges the message and
tells him not to go to the courthouse because the police are everywhere.
Michael responds otherwise saying he promised her and he got to give the judge the testimony now.
Eventually, a traffic enforcer asks for his license because they catch him talking on the
phone while driving. As he can’t give the license, suddenly, the men from the shop throw spray can on
the police car. He gets out and calls the judge again; he says that it’s too dangerous for him to
go to the courthouse and asks his location. When he’s about to say it, his phone dies.
He decides to go directly to the judge. He drives as fast as he can
while being chased by police just like in the very first part of the movie.
He loses the sirens and the phone rings as it’s now charging; he then calls the judge
but then he gets hit by a police car. He has nowhere to go so, he drives through a shop.
The police keep on shooting at him but he goes again back on the road.
Not long after, he’s now surrounded by police cars and aircraft. The speaker asks him to get out of
the car with his hands on his head. However, he decides to take a turn and goes to the courthouse.
He grabs the reporter as he opens the backdoor and points the gun at him;
he demands the lieutenant to get the judge. Detective Smith arrives and asks the lieutenant
from the courthouse to not intervene, but he can’t because Michael has a hostage.
A few shouts after, he finds that the hostage’s mic is on so he grabs the phone
but then the detective shoots at him. He plays the recording testimony in the mic while bleeding.
On news, Michael is now praised as a hero with the title “a courageous defender of
justice,” by the President and is now in the hospital trying to heal together with Angie.
The movie ends with the news on the radio saying that the officers got arrested
while the man on the car rental polishes the minivan that Michael used, the Vehicle 19.