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Movie Review - Highwaymen (2003)
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(What this rating means)
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| Director: |
Robert Harmon |
| Starring: |
James Caviezel, Rhona Mitra, and Colm Feore
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| Rated: |
R (for violence, some gore and brief language) |
| Length: |
80 minutes |
| Genre: |
Action/Thriller |
| Tagline: |
Terror hits the road. |
| Studio: |
New Line Cinema |
| Website: |
Highwaymen |
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PLOT
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There's a bad man (Feore) doing bad things in a car ('72 El Dorado). But this bad man made the mistake of
killing the good guy's (Caviezel) wife. So the good guy gets his own little souped up car ('68 Plymouth
Barracuda) and decides to exact a little revenge. The good guy also helps out a hot chick (Mitra) along
the way. A tire-burnin' revenge flick ensues.
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JOHNNY'S TAKE
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This isn't exactly complicated, folks. Jim Caviezel's wife is killed by a dude in an ugly '72 pepper
green El Dorado. Flash forward five years later. Jim is now all scruffy-lookin' and on a mission!
He's got some cool shades and a nice little '68 Plymouth Barracuda. El Dorado boy is still on the
road killing people. Jim frequently listens to a police scanner to try to track down the killer.
All right, so we've established that we have a serial killer whose weapon of choice is a car.
That should be all you need to know in order to not take this too seriously. So let's throw a hot babe into
the mix - Rhona Mitra! Man, could she look any hotter with that long dark hair, those sultry lips, those
adorable dimples, and her expressive eyes?
Anyway, Jim and Rhona meet each other at some sort of support group for car accident victims. They do
a bunch of gay stuff like forcing you to take the hand of the person next to you and say, "I. Am Not.
Alone." Yeah. Right. Should've tagged on the following: "Except. In regard to. A Relationship.
With the. Opposite Sex." I'm so glad Jim and Rhona refused to take part in this tomfoolery.
What proceeds is a sometimes silly, but most always entertaining, revenge movie on wheels! Mr. El Dorado
wants Rhona, and Jim wants Mr. El Dorado. Let the fun begin.
Keep in mind; things don't always reach the top of the believability ladder. There's one scene that is
simply one of the most ludicrous scenes I've seen in any movie in a while. A friend of Rhona's is taking
her home. Unfortunately for them, Mr. El Dorado follows them. He speeds up and rams into the back of
the car. What happens? He dents the bumper, right? Or maybe causes them to skid a bit? Nope. This
fender bender inexplicably causes the car to be THROWN ABOUT 15 FEET IN THE AIR! Plus, it's launched
forward about 50 feet. Put your drink down because it's definitely a spit-take moment. You can actually
see this scene in the trailer to help prepare you for it.
The following scene is pretty cool though. Mr. El Dorado chains the wrecked car to his and speeds away. So
basically Rhona is surfing down the street while the fiery car is being dragged along, and her friend is
just hanging upside down. Never fear, Jim saves the day, and Rhona throws her arms around his neck, thus
making him the envy of all heterosexual males with a pulse.
As the movie progresses, we find out who Mr. El Dorado is, what caused his motivation to kill, what Jim did
after seeing his wife killed, and where Jim's been the last 5 years.
Highwaymen isn't exactly revolutionary; it's just fun. It's dark, it's brooding, and it's got a
chip on its shoulder. Rumor has it that it just signed a contract to appear in a pilot for the WB. And
though I don't go to the drive-in, for some reason I feel compelled to say that this movie feels like a
drive-in classic. I love the scene where Rhona is shifting the clutch in her cute little bare feet! See
Hollywood? Sometimes I'm easy to please.
You do have to suspend disbelief a bit, but let's be honest, what else would you expect? I am curious
though, in regard to the killer Jim said, "His body is his car." If this is true, then couldn't the killer
have found something cooler to tool around in than a '72 puke green El Dorado? Who does this guy think he
is, my grandmother?
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ODDS & ENDS
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- Johnny Betts owns a '69 Forest Green Metallic Camaro. You better believe it rocks.
- Highwaymen opened in limited release on 111 screens.
- Rhona Mitra can be seen Sundays this Fall in Boston Legal.
- Rhona Mitra was in The Hollow Man with Josh Brolin who was in, well, The Hollow Man
with Kevin Bacon.
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MAMA'S APPROVAL
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I don't know if mama would really like this, but it's pretty tame for an R-rated movie. Granted, I saw it
on TNT, but from what I could tell they only bleeped out one "f" word. I still wouldn't recommend showing
it at your child's 10th birthday party.
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TRAILER COMPARISON
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The trailer is pretty representative of what the movie delivers. It even shows you a couple of the cheesy
sequences that you can expect.
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THE GIST
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With a bigger budget and a little fine-tuning on the script, Highwaymen could've been a really,
really good movie and could've been a box office success. But hey, it's still entertaining as it is.
I like Jim Caviezel, I love Rhona Mitra, I'm a fan of revenge flicks, and I'm a sucker for anything
with muscle cars and fast chases, therefore, I had a good time. You don't necessarily need to add this
movie to your DVD collection, but it's definitely worth a rental.
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