Highwaymen Reviews

In "Highwaymen" a different kind of serial killer (Colm Feore) get his thrills by orchestrating disaster on the roads of America with a vehicle he's almost become a part of himself. On his tail, a man (James Caviezel) craving vengeance and dangerously close to becoming the very thing he hates because of it. A woman (Rhona Mitra) will become both the focus of one's rage and a tool for revenge for the other as their inevitable final face off looms in the horizon.

Director Robert Harmon had made quite the impact on the genre with the fantastic road thriller "The Hitcher" back in 1986 and, though he had not managed to make significant waves since, a return to familiar ground seemed like a ripe opportunity to come back swinging. With a cast full of solid talent and a compelling premise, it seemed that the cards had lined up. Alas, despite being far from awful "Highwaymen" feels more like a letdown than a revelation. From its languid pacing, its perplexing lack of desire to plumb the rich psychological blueprint of its characters, and to its bare bones approach to much everything else, "Highwaymen" shows that maybe Harmon's "The Hitcher" was more a demonstration of the strengths of its writer rather than Harmon's as a director.

Indeed, watching the film makes you wonder how sparse the script was. From minimal dialogue to scenes that stretch out too thin over the shockingly short running time the movie feels almost palpably "hollow" and for that reason longer than it really is. The entire time I kept thinking when are we going to sink our teeth into these characters? The answer was a resounding "never". More often than not we are told what to know about these characters rather than experiencing it (at one point our protagonist is privy to a confounding amount of knowledge about the villain that he had no way of knowing). Given what would of been done instead of this lazy approach, it's a real shame to see things go down as they do.

James Caviezel is a fairly talented actor but he barely feels present in the movie. He comes off as more of a vague idea that the production wants you to feel. Rhona Mitra's character feels like a plot necessity that the writer's clumsily fit into the screenplayfor the sake of giving you an impression about someone else. A cop supporting character (Will Macklin) is about as unfulfilling and unnecessary as they could of made it, especially given that legal repercussions seem to barely exist in this cinematic world. Even Colm Feore's villain Fargo is neutered of menace by barely being onscreen and never fully allowed to play with the character when he is. Fargo could of been one of the most intriguing serial killers on film with a unique M.O. and motivation, look, and a great actor behind the threat but he falls way too short of the goal.

The best I can say is that it never devolves into utter ineptitude, it's fairly well shot but that's far from praise and that the concept/idea is so strong and full of promise that you keep watching in hopes that the production will take advantage of it. They never do.

Conceptually "Highwaymen" shows a lot of potential and, indeed, inklings of that remain in the final product but, alas, the film mostly feels like a missed opportunity which is an absolute shame. I give this film a 4/10.