Switchback (1997)

A slow-burn 1990s thriller with Dennis Quaid, Danny Glover, Jared Leto, and snowy Colorado mountain scenery that gives the movie much of its personality.

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A great serial-killer movie that doesn't really feel like one.

Switchback is a serial-killer movie that doesn’t really feel like one.

It’s more of a thriller.

Dennis Quaid plays an FBI agent hunting a killer who has made the case deeply personal. Meanwhile, Danny Glover plays a railroad worker who crosses paths with a young drifter played by Jared Leto.

What makes the movie work for me is everything around the investigation. Highways, trains, diners, snowy mountain towns — I’m a junkie for these kinds of things — and Switchback makes great use of all of them.

Glover is excellent, nailing a role that requires him to be friendly, funny, and just slightly odd — in a way that keeps you paying attention.

There are better-known serial-killer movies from the 1990s.

I’d rather watch this one.