Highwaymen (2004)

Don't measure this film up against The Hitcher. You'll be disappointed. The film ain't no Hitcher, yes it's story is intriguing, and certainly is something of different material. Basically it's a man (Caiaziel) uses woman (Mitra) to snare a serial killer "hasn't got a life mother fu..er" of ordinary (Meon,) and kill him in avengement for running down his wife. As consequence for chasing him down, making him a cripple, with prosphetics, Caviziel ending up serving some time, for his troubles. Now out, living a life of empty, he meets sexy Mitra at a councelling meeting, who's Sister was another victim of this freak, where rear impacts are never been more deadly. Highwaymen I must say, rides cool on the fact, it has minimal scenes and plot points, to carry out as a movie. In the almost empty cinema I saw it in, and it as the smallest out of the five, I heard one guy comment, "Well that was short". It was "Ashamedly short", and this disappointment was the film's heavy flaw. If comparing this to The Hitcher, whatever, the film is low on ingredients, in a "not adding up to much, or short sheeted film", where asides it was bloody entertaining and cool. You can't argue that it wasn't different, but could of been much better, primarily on what I've just said, if drawn out with many more structural points. Colin Meon is a nasty piece of psychopathic and scarring work, where he still kills people via his car, tailor made for getting in and out of. This film while being great for rev and petrol heads whatever has too light a load, with a final frame, of merciless and vigilante justice at the sound of a shotgun blast, cliché'd.

This is an easy to watch straightforward thriller. The type of movie you just back and enjoy. A crazed serial killer is running young women down and it's up to Jim Caviezel to hunt him down. The plot is far fetched as many action thrillers are but the cast do such an impressive job that it's hard not to get involved in the story. Whereby most action movies involve actors of a questionable quality, Jim Caviezel and Rhona Mitra are excellent in this ably supported by Frankie Faison. There are some terrific high action action moments including one particularly suspenseful one. My only criticism of the film would be the pantomime bad guy and the fact that the ending is as predictable as a wet English summer. However there is much to enjoy in this film and i'm surprised it wasn't a bigger hit.

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.

First off, I am a great fan of The Hitcher (Director Robert Harmon's best film in my view) and Jim Caviezel (superb actor). So you would think Highwaymen was made especially for me. I saw the trailer a while back and it looked right down my street. However - it was quite hard to get here in Ireland but eventually I picked it up in GameStop for 8 Euro - good value. Or so I thought.The start was great - straight in, no messing around. Caviezel's wife is killed by a hit and run in a thrilling opening scene. The fact that not one word is uttered for the first 8 minutes of screen time but yet the effect on the audience is not diminished is testament to the director's handling. In fact 15 minutes go by before Caviezel says his first words - not bad work for a 77 minute film.However, things go downhill from the beginning.The tunnel crash seemed a little lethargic and contrived for me. Full marks to what seems like a non-CGI aided stunt but the action was a little stunted (excuse the pun) and looked like slow motion. then we start getting into the realms on unbelievability. 1. Macklin has to show ID as a cop to get through a cordon of cops outside the tunnel. Who is already inside? Wandering around untroubled? Caviezel. How did he get in?2. Caviezel then proceeds to look at the crash scene and pick up vital evidence from the road while a hundred cops / medics / firemen etc. swarm the area. And not only that but Macklin spots him and then lets him away with it.3. Then Macklin sees Rhona Mitra's character huddled 8 feet off the ground. What? None of the other 100 cops/medics/firemen etc. saw her sitting in plain view up there? Come on?4. Mitra is then in a hospital bed and guess who is standing beside her? Yep - Caviezel. Again, this guy seems to be able to pop up anywhere he likes without been stopped by anyone.I could go on like this through the whole film to be honest but it would become tiresome in this review....as it was while watching. Plot wasn't one of the strong points in this film as things just happen for the sake of moving the story along - there is no explanation or even reason for these things. Tasting oil, pressure guaging a radiator, Caviezel appearing at a counseling session out of the blue, finding the killer's stopover garage in the middle of nowhere etc. etc.Some of the camera work is good - helicopter scene following the car through a mountainous river scene is sumptuous in the extreme - beautiful. But some of it is downright bad - interior shots in the same scene by mountains are simply lazy. Some stunts are good and inventive - chain pulling the car upside down - but a lot lack real tension (tunnel, ending). The music was good and creepy. In the end - a poor storyline really let's the whole project down. The DVD's scene navigation was great and far superior to some of the main film's work - which is never a good sign.5/10.