Velozes e Mortais

As if driving the city streets wasn't killer enough add to the terror of car pooling the new thriller by Robert Harmon (The Hitcher / They). Driving from state-to-state from sea-to-shining-sea is a new maniac Fargo (Feore). Fargo is an ex-insurance agent stalking women via hit and run with none other than a 1972 El Dorado. His newest mark is Molly (Mitra), a poor girl if ever there is one, who lost her parents in a car crash and is being toyed with by Fargo. Her only chance of survival is Rennie (Caviezel) who has also suffered loss because of the motor maniac when his wife became one of his early victims. Hunting down Fargo has become Rennie's one and only obsession and no one will get in the way of his vengeance.

Director Robert Harmon returns to the road with this his new (albeit long delayed) thriller. I didn't expect a whole lot due to the releasing woes the film has had which culminated in it being dumped on home video after a woeful limited release. Strangely enough it was a good, fast paced revenge flick that moved about as fast as the souped-up Barracuda driven by none other than Christ himself. Some nice camera-work adds to the tension of several sequences involving car wrecks and attacks. The film also had some nice photography of the open toad too. The sound design was a hit with a very powerful dts track to highlight all that car action. The acting was what you expect from a script that isn't driven by characters but by steel and asphalt.

If you are able to overlook some glaring plot inconsistencies and an occasional implausible set piece then you might like Highwaymen. I was pleasantly surprised. But if you are DVD aficionado the disc offers no special features. Well worth a look.

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" 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.

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.

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.