Themes: Serial Killers, Out For Revenge, Death of a Partner
Main Cast: James Caviezel, Rhona Mitra, Frankie R. Faison, Colm Feore, Andrea Roth
Release Year: 2004
Country: US
Run Time: 80 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Following up the 2002 horror flick Wes Craven Presents: They, director Robert Harmon took on this cat-and-mouse thriller written by Craig Mitchell and Hans Bauer, the writing team behind 1999's Komodo. Jim Caviezel stars as Rennie, a man who suddenly finds his life destroyed by tragedy when his wife is murdered by a mysterious serial killer (Colm Feore). The culprit, it seems, is a psychopath with a penchant for hunting down and killing random women, using his green 1972 Cadillac El Dorado as his weapon. With revenge on his mind, Rennie sets out on the road in search of the elusive car and its homicidal driver. Along the way, Rennie meets a singer named Molly (Rhona Mitra) who suddenly finds herself embroiled in his unending quest for retribution. Frankie Faison also stars. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
Review
Existing on a sandy desert plane somewhere between The Hitcher and Breakdown, director Robert Harmon's on-the-road revenge flick isn't quite the steaming dog pile suggested by its extremely limited release (the film was initially relegated to a mere handful of Southwestern movie theaters), and even if some viewers may feel like they have been down this road before, Highwaymen does manage to offer a few memorable suspense sequences despite frequent lapses into clichéd territory. From the determined widower who won't stop until his wife's murder is avenged to the initially-hesitant-but-quickly-convinced psycho fodder with whom he eventually teams to take down the killer (and who just so happens to bear a more than passing resemblance to his beloved, deceased wife), Highwaymen almost seems to wear its rigid adherence to convention as a badge of honor -- a fact that makes the film go down something like the greasy fast-food hamburger we've eaten a million times before but still can't quite resist when pulling up to the drive-through window. Anyone familiar with the basic revenge formula will likely have this road trip mapped out right around the 15-minute mark, though given a relatively brief running time of 81 minutes, the journey is almost as brief as it is benign. If it never quite reaches the delirious, demented heights of Harmon's aforementioned C. Thomas Howell/Rutger Hauer nail-biter (or even director John Dahl's more recent Joyride for that matter), Highwaymen at least makes up for it's unavoidable shortcomings by rapidly accelerating from the starting line and never downshifting or glancing in the rear-view mirror. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Rennie Cray (Caviezel) embarks on a bloodthirsty rampage to avenge the death of his wife, who was struck down by a serial killer, Fargo (Colm Feore), who hunts and kills women with his '72 Cadillac Eldorado. After he successfully collides with Fargo on the highway, the latter is crippled and forced to replace much of his body with prosthetics. Cray is put away in jail for years.
When Rennie gets out, he begins tracking Fargo again; By now, Fargo has made the El Dorado into an extension of his own body and continued on his hit-and-run spree, disguising his killings as accidents. When one of his victims escapes, Rennie takes it upon himself to protect her.
Meanwhile, state traffic investigator Will Macklin senses a coincidence and begins to pursue Cray, and Fargo plans to end his chase with his pursuer once and for all.
