Great Film overall

Fantastic!

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

When I read the synopsis this movie reminded me of Death Proof, Quentin Tarantino's great homage to 70s B-movies. I wasn't thinking that Highwaymen was a ripoff of Death Proof, especially as Highwaymen was released in 2004 and Death Proof 2007. However, thought it might be similar.Well, it's not. While Death Proof was slick, entertaining and had great dialogue(as you'd expect from Tarantino) and was even plausible, Highwaymen is lame and feels contrived throughout. Also feels very cheap - the CGI is pretty weak. The car cabin-view country driving scenes look like they were shot in the 60s!Only reason to watch this movie is Rhona Mitra...

HIGHWAYMEN is a suspense thriller which has a good premise. The main idea is kind of original and I must say I appreciated the beginning. But when the plot starts developing I think it starts losing its original impact turning into a average "psycho killer" story. The ending is very predictable and poor. With a strong beginning like that, I was expecting something better.Somehow this movie made me remind MAD MAX, not because of the plot, since it's completely different, but mainly because of the cars, and the two highway men.The acting is not bad but as told the plot is too simple and predictable. I think a good main idea like that would deserve a better plot resolution… I score it 5/10.

It's true to say that Highwaymen barely has a single original bolt in it's toolbox. I spotted references to such previous action/horror road movies as Duel, The Car, Joyride (aka: Roadkill), Freeway, Walter Hill's The Driver and even Abel Ferrara's made-for-TV effort The Gladiator. And we mustn't forget The Hitcher, especially as it was helmed by Highwaymen's director, Robert Harmon. Yet this movie still emerges as a taut and engrossing thriller.The plot has former doctor Rennie Cray (James Caviezel) motoring along the highways and byways of America in a souped-up roadster, obsessively pursuing his wife's killer, serial hit-and-run driver Fargo (Colm Feore). Innocent bystander Molly (Rhona Mitra) becomes a rare survivor/witness of one of Fargo's homicidal smash-ups, and ends up being used as bait by both of the vehicular combatants.The film boasts some first rate stunt sequences, the best of which being the scene in which Molly's best friend is killed (a great suspense/action scene set in a road tunnel, directed with the kind of flair reminiscent of Russell Mulcahy), and a set-piece that has Mitra trying to escape from a burning car that's being towed, upside down, at high speed (the most imaginative car stunt I've seen outside of the Maniac Cop series).The movie also scores points by gradually revealing important information about the key characters as the story progresses, instead of just laying it all out for us at the beginning. Pay attention, and you'll learn why Molly is nervous around cars even before her friend is killed, why Fargo hates Cray almost as much as Cray hates him, and how both of the title characters have modified and customised their vehicles to suit their specific purposes and needs.No film is without it's flaws, and Highwaymen is no exception. There are the usual plot-holes and inconsistencies: it's never explained how Cray is financing his endless pursuit of his nemesis (presumably he's living off his wife's life insurance, but we're not told). Molly goes from being Cray's reluctant hostage to becoming dependant upon him in no time at all. Then, having begun to establish Molly and Cray as an effective team in their mutual conflict with Fargo, the script makes the bizarre mistake of separating them for the majority of the movie! Instead, Cray gets a new sidekick, accident investigator Macklin (Frankie Faison), whose only purpose is so Cray can have someone to explain key plot points to. On the whole, the movie's attempts at characterisation are kept to a minimum. In fact, due to it's short running time (just under 80 minutes) almost everything is kept to a minimum: there are only nine speaking roles in the entire film, the obligatory tacked-on romantic subplot is just a little too obligatory, and the final confrontation between Cray and Fargo is over before it's barely begun, which means it fails to match the metal-crunching mayhem that preceded it.As for the cast, Caviezel nicely underplays his obsessive vigilante. Mitra doesn't have much to do except be scared or apprehensive, but does it extremely well, and succeeds in making Molly more than just the token Girl In Peril. Faison is also stuck with an under-developed character, but does okay as the bewildered cop, while Feore manages to create a memorable presence despite his limited screen-time.In conclusion, Highwaymen will be a little too spartan for some tastes, but upon it's brief UK cinema release in 2004 I found it to be one of the better films I saw that year.

Just the way I like my movies; doesn't mess around getting to what the story is all about and because it's only 72 min's, you don't have to wait an eternity for plot resolution to occur. You are launched into the movie headlong by the opening scene. Ends, as is usual with many American movies, with the obligatory mass of police vehicles & ambulances all parked with their lights flashing. It would be interesting to compile a list of how many movies end with such a scene and pan out to finish the film. Getting a bit tired I would have thought.A short, sharp, dramatic, emotion evoking ride.