Highwaymen

"Highwaymen" marks the return of director Robert Harmon and composer Mark Isham to the subgenre of road-film terror they all but established in 1986's landmark horror film, "The Hitcher." Whereas that film coasted on the ambiguity of Eric Red's minimalist script and the bizarre chemistry between a psychopath (Rutger Hauer) and his victim (C. Thomas Howell), "Highwaymen" is a much 'cleaner' version of that film--cleaner in terms of cinematography, violence, and overall appearance. It's an extremely glossy production with well-choreographed action and razor-sharp editing that places you in the midst of chaos rather than just assaulting your senses. Jim Caviezel's jaded victim exudes the right notes of obsession and exhaustion, and Rhona Mitra's pseudo-Sandra Bullock looks go a long way as she joins up to hunt down Fargo (Colm Feore, looking like a refugee from David Cronenberg's "Crash"), a killer who uses his souped-up 1972 El Dorado as a weapon. As he did in "The Hitcher," Harmon shows confident skill in photography, editing, and the decision to keep villain Fargo off camera for the first hour, thereby upping the suspense considerably. Isham's musical score sets a proper mood and is just as effective as his previous work. Where "Highwaymen" comes up short is in its straightforward, bare-bones story (padded out somewhat by the addition of Frankie Faison's traffic investigator); clocking in at a paltry 81 minutes (including end credits), one gets the impression that characters could have been developed further and more action sequences could have been infused into the film. As it stands, "Highwaymen" is in too much of a hurry, but remains a diverting, fine-tuned thriller all the same.

If you are familiar with "The Hitcher," with Rutger Hauer, and liked it, you might like this one. The main difference in the two movies is that in here, the killer never leaves his car. It's not as intense or well-made as the former, but Highwaymen is decent enough for one look. It's very short so you aren't going to be wasting the whole day, anyway.

The story in a nutshell: a serial killer runs down a young woman in his car at random and is not caught for years until Jim Caviezel, whose wife also was a victim of the killer, figures out it's the same guy, and tracks him down for a showdown of his own.

The film starts out well, and is very intense, but loses momentum in the second half. Boredom isn't the problem, it's the credibility of the story. There are just too many holes in the plot and nothing becomes credible. It's no wonder this movie never got much publicity: it has too much of a "B" feel to it, despite Caviezel's presence.

However, it is entertaining and the actual running time of the story is a mere 76 minutes, so if you're looking for an hour-and-a-quarter of escapism, this is it.

It's been 18 years and a long time in the TV movie/Van Damme C-list wilderness since Robert Harmon screeched onto the big screen with the acrid blend of scorching oil and hot blood that was The Hitcher. With Highwaymen, he's back in the familiar territory of eerie desert landscapes, lonesome blacktop unspooling to the horizon and two men engaged in a dance of death so ritualised and implausible that it's near-mythic. Rennie Cray (Jim Caviezel) is a vengeful fury, prowling the interstates in a battered Plymouth Barracuda as he stalks the hit-and-run killer who brutally murdered his wife five years previously. This deadly game of tag has left his nemesis James Fargo (Colm Feore) a spite-filled human wreck of broken flesh and prosthetic limbs lashed together with harnesses and straps in his customised Cadillac, taunting Cray with newspaper cuttings of his fresh kills. Caught in the middle is Molly (Rhona Mitra), a survivor of Fargo's latest attack and most likely his next target. Harmon doesn't get bogged down in logic and back story for this fusion of Duel and Crash; indeed, his sketched-in biographies for each protagonist feel welded on as an afterthought. Mitra's got nothing to do but look very fetching as she plays buffeted pawn-in-the-middle, but that's okay because Caviezel and Feore are only required to look grim and tormented as they have at each other time and again on the battleground of the highway. It's a tight 72 minutes but the director still takes time to capture the alien mood of the desert, a landscape further imbued with mystery by Mark Isham's effective electronic score. In marked contrast is Harmon's eroticisation of the car, the camera's lingering fascination with the scars of road accidents, wince-inducing moments of impact and the gunning engines pouring from the soundtrack like the howls of coupling dragons. The climax is appropriately downbeat save for a crummy last scene kiss-off and plot holes the size of Arizona open up when you stop to think about it, but this is a movie best enjoyed in the moment.

I had heard about this flick awhile back and never got the chance to see it on the big screen because New Line had to go limited release(which is just dumb) so hardly anyone got to see this film which is a shame because it's a real great flick. From the opening moments I was thrown into the world of the film was never bored.Director Robert Harmon does a great job of shooting car chases the way they're never been shot before. The film is more a slasher than anything:it's got the killer who kills with his car,you got Jesus himself,James Caviezel,out on a mission to stop him at all cost and the lovely Rhona Mitra as the woman cought inbetween.Words cannot descibe how cool this film is,the action is bad a$$ and the use of the way they used the car as a weapon was great. Now while this movie isn't perfect, it is a great show and slasher logic does apply to it, if you wanted real world logic than go watch a drama or something...if you want to kick back and watch a cool flick than this is it. Much props go out to director Robert Harmon for bringing out this great film and much love to Rhona Mitra for looking so hot.

This could've been a descent movie had someone edited out the nonsense and the unacceptable scenes that made absolutely no sense. Believability is a priority in any movie and a hook to keep em guessing right up to the end, not some safety cop blasting a shotgun for no more reason than shock value. Lastly ....a great cast deserved better. So much of the movie lacked any kind of logic and/or continuity. Maybe some interjection of humor could have helped this dark movie or possibly a surprise ending that set things straight or maybe even a few flashbacks to help balance the meat of the story line. I wanted to care about the characters and their plight but I just didn't.