The Highwayman

It's cartoonish. If they were going for a parody of the era, they missed the mark by making it AmDram. It feels as though the writing was taken from the pantomime. There's a skirmish between two of the characters and it looks like they're dancing and that's not an exaggeration. The schemes that are supposed to show the ruthlessness of the head-villain are so ludicrous as to be unfathomably bad. Not to spoil anything, but don't watch this, there's a strange scene after strange scene. It very much feels like they intentionally made a terrible film because making it better would have looked like they were trying to make a good film but failed: this way they look like they were trying to make a bad film and in that they have succeeded. It gets worse as it goes on.

Normally I would give a film like this a 1, but because this is such a low budget affair, I gave it one extra 1.

Poorly acted written and directed, I cannot find much to recommend it to to the discerning viewer.

I'm not sure what age group this was made for, but I think maybe it's more for 14 year old girls rather than adults.

The story is kind of pointless. The actions of the characters (especially Elizabeth) are just annoying, and the acting is pretty poor.

You have an obnoxious female character, a pretty useless highwayman, and a villain who is kind of over the top evil. It was predictable and nothing new. The whole thing didn't work for me.

I watched it as it was rated over 7, but IMDB is just so full of fake reviews and ratings these days that the rating doesn't really mean much anymore.

This is definitely not a 9 or 10 star movie, unless you are buddies with he director or one of the main actors.

I wouldn't bother with this one.

I like this genre of movie, tight action, swashbuckling high links, horse chases, heroic endeavours... Oh wait, there is none of that in this movie. Okay, what you do get is a lame horse, so to speak. I'm not sure if it is the cast or the bad writing, but this movie doesn't feel authentic. The story is so so, if not a little predictable and has a villain that seems to be from another movie altogether.

Sure, I understand low budget constraints so 5/5 for that, but 4/10 is my score.

One thing I noted was the British actors playing the roles in a British story, glad it was not completely ruined by, shall we say, other actors from across the pond. 😃

Conclusion: Not bad and not good; mediocre.

Anyone remember "Carry On Dick" (1974)? Well it's probably got more going for it than this lacklustre drivel. It's Morgan Rees-Davies who takes up the mantle of England's legendary highwayman who finds himself in hot water after he inadvertently kidnaps the daughter of the Earl of Pembroke (Steven Dolton). Now we're not quite sure who has got the worst of this captivity, for "Elizabeth" (Mollie Hindle) is no shrinking violet. Indeed she rather relishes the freedom and excitement of a life devoid of corsets and curtsies. Meantime, her duplicitous fiancé "Winthroppe" (Tom Hendryk) is out to fleece her rather penniless and clueless father so he can take over their house under which might be some lucrative mines, and, well... Most of the swash and buckle here is left to the Aiden Turner-esque Ciaron Davies in the role of "O'Reilly" and to be fair to him, his is really the only thing remotely close to engaging here. It might have looked good on paper after a few yards of ale, but on screen this is a poorly conceived concept that doesn't really deliver on any level. The acting skills are basic, delivering some dialogue that rather optimistically tries it's hand at the odd bit of black humour before an ending that would have made Sid James look like an Oscar winner. Good story, strong theme and plenty of opportunity - instead we get a weak and listless drama that struggles to make it to ninety minutes.