A touching film that inspires, Adopt a Highway opens this weekend and gets my highest star value. Not a flaw in the drama, it has all the qualities that make a movie great including stellar acting, pinpoint directing and highest production value. I also like the way director and writer Logan Marshall-Green gets to the point early on and plays out his film at a nice pace not squandering butts in the seat time and including only plausible material for the final outcome.
Just released from prison for possession of one ounce of marijuana with intent to distribute, 44 year-old Russell Millings (Ethan Hawke) has served 21 years in the pen. It has been a term that covered most of the technological advancements of our time and he finds himself lost when it comes to even sending an email.
Acquiring a job at a local restaurant as a dishwasher has given him the meager income he lives on in his small apartment. After a long period of work and serving his parole requirements, he’s close to being free to roam America. Having earned the respect as a loyal employee at the diner, his boss asks him if he can stay late and close up. As he brings the garbage bags to the dumpsters, inside he finds a baby Ella (Everly and Savannah Sucher) in a tote bag.
So begins this amazing story of Russell and the fate awaiting him and Ella that’s beyond the imagination. Director and writer Logan Marshall Green puts together a very good script. One you could easily say can really have happened. He makes his main character a criminal, but one that had fallen from grace in the wrong decade. Being arrested during the period where if you get three strikes with the law and you commit your third felony, it’s a mandatory sentence. Green shows the effect that prison life has had on Russell and what he has missed for his crime. But he also shows the folly of the one ounce of marijuana being the downfall for his life in captivity.
What makes the film extra special is the performance by Ethan Hawke who makes every scene believable. He rescues the child, but has to make a decision of circumstance that is beyond his newly presented realm of freedom. The saving of the child is a metaphor of his own life. He gives the child the freedom to live and an opportunity to become a person free of the forces that put little Ella in the dumpster. But, by doing so has put his future in jeopardy, yet selflessly takes the biggest chance of his life. Ethan has always entertained bringing a myriad of characters to the screen and making them real. Some of his best include the brutal film Training Day, the romantic drama Snow Falling on Cedars, and the pulsating First Reformed.
Adopt a Highway has not been rated by the MPAA but contains some language. An inspirational film with a message of selflessness.
FINAL ANALYSIS: A very good film that touches your heart. (5 out of 5 Stars)
Additional Film Information:
Cast: Ethan Hawke, Elaine Hendrix, Diane Gaeta,
Mo McRae, Chris Sullivan, and Betty Gabriel
Directed and written by: Logan Marshall Green
Genre: Drama
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 1hr.18 min.
Opening Date: November 1, 2019
Distributed by: RLJE Entertainment
Released in: Theaters, On Demand and Digital HD
Writer, critic, film editor John Delia, Sr. has been on all sides of the movie business from publications to film making. He has worked as a film critic with ACED Magazine for more than 20 years and other publications for a total of 40 years. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Florida. John is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association and Critics Association of Central Florida Send John a message at jdelia@acedmagazine.com
