Michael Elliott
Senior HTF Member
Highwaymen
:star::star::star:/:star::star::star::star:
Studio: New Line
Year: 2003
Rated: R
Film Length: 81 minutes
Aspect Ratio: Anamorphic Widescreen (2.35:1)
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1, DD Surround
Subtitles: English, Spanish
Retail Price: $19.95
Director Robert Harmon made a name for himself with his 1986 cult classic The Hitcher and followed that up seven years later with the highly underrated Jean-Claude Van Damme film Nowhere to Run. In 2002 he made a return to horror with Wes Craven Presents: They but when Freddy vs Jason hit theaters horror fans got a big surprise. Before the film started New Line showed the trailer for a film that looked incredible and before the title popped up there was already a bit of buzz going on. That film was Highwaymen but it eventually kept getting pushed back to the point where it only opened limited theaters to cash in on star Jim Caviezel’s role in The Passion of the Christ.
Did the studio mess up a golden opportunity for another cult classic or was the film simply bad and that’s why it kept getting pushed back? Well, on August 24th, New Line delivers this much talked about but rarely seen film on DVD with the low retail price of $19.95.
The story is kept simple and violent throughout. Rennie Cray (Jim Caviezel) is out searching for a hit and run driver who no one knows about but himself. Five years earlier a man driving a ’72 El Dorado ran over Cray’s wife and got off without spending a day in jail. Cray on the other hand served three years in prison for aggravated assault after he crashed his car into this secret man who didn’t die however. After being released from prison Cray goes out looking for the guy who is now deformed and has transformed his car into an extension of his own body. A cat and mouse game takes place over two years as the El Dorado keeps stalking and killing innocent women. The newest target (Rhonda Mitra) survives the first attack so Cray decides to use her in order to get the El Dorado who keeps coming back for more.
Highwaymen is in no way a great movie and while there are many problems here the bottom line is that we’ve got a tense and well directed thriller that is destined to get a cult following just like The Hitcher did so many years ago. Like that film, the director goes over the top in some of the graphic violence but he also makes the wise decision to cut out all the Hollywood stuff and go straight for the jugular. I’m sure many other directors would have tried to turn this into some soap opera but thankfully Harmon knew exactly what to do with the film. The film runs 74-minutes not including the end credits and some said this is why New Line didn’t give this a large theatrical run but it’s this reason the film works so well.
One thing missing from films today is the short running time. Films of the past were always good at keeping the running time low especially if they didn’t have much of a story to work with. Various Monogram horror films and several exploitation films from the 1970’s came in to show one thing and they delivered that without trying to butter up the viewer with silly side plots and stupid romance scenes between the two leads. Highwaymen is a very good example of this because it’s 74-minute runtime is nothing more or less than a straight revenge story. The two leads don’t fall in love and we don’t have any stupid scenes dealing with the villain trying to come across as something he isn’t.
I’m sure some will criticize the film because we really don’t get to know the good guy or the bad guy but once again I think this is a major plus. Do we really need an extra twenty minutes to know the good guy is a good guy and the bad guy is a bad guy? Of course not. This message is set up within the opening sequence and if the viewer has half a brain then he knows what’s going on, who we’re suppose to root for and we should be smart enough to know the bad guy is an evil SOB who is going to get what’s coming. Director Harmon has a very simple setup and a very simple delivery. There isn’t a scene in the movie that doesn’t belong or doesn’t add anything to the film. We go from the first act to the last one and the director delivers the goods without trying to do anything extra.
Jim Caviezel moves slowly and speaks softly but the performance is right on the mark because we know exactly what he’s thinking just by the way his walks and various body jesters that are given throughout the film. The supporting actors do a nice job in their roles but the film certainly belongs to Caviezel and the two cars. There are a few bad scenes, namely a rescue that’s a bit far fetched towards the start of the film but other than that we’ve got a wonderful little B-film that manages to be tense without the added crap we’d see in a Hollywood film. The director has a fancy for showing some graphic crash violence but this here just adds to the discomfort of the film.
VIDEO---The film is shown widescreen (2.35:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 TVs. Considering the low budget we get another very good transfer from New Line with the only problems coming from a couple scenes where white speckles can be seen. I only noticed around three scenes, which each had one or two speckles but for such a recent film we really shouldn’t be seeing these. The film appears to have been shot with a bit of a soft focus and this here doesn’t seen to be an issue with the transfer. The best example of this occurs at the end of the film where our hero is sitting in his car next to a cornfield. The colors of the corn is a lighter, more faded looking green but it appears to have been meant to look this way. Colors are very good and the detail given adds to the nice transfer. There’s a wonderful moment where the hero is driving through a desert and this scene really shows off the transfer. The light blue sky comes off looking very natural as does the brownish dirt on the ground. I didn’t detect any edge enhancement or digital artifacts, which is a major plus. A Pan and Scan version is also included on the disc.
AUDIO---We get Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1 Surround and a Dolby 2.0 Stereo Surround tracks. Once again I compared the DD5.1 to the DTS track and in this case the DTS track is the clear winner, although neither track is what I’d call reference quality. Again, this is a low budget film so we shouldn’t expect too much but what we do get captures the film just fine. The dialogue is upfront and crystal clear with great range and clarity with each line. There isn’t a single scene where the dialogue gets blurred behind the action going on. The Surrounds go to good use but again, don’t expect anything that’s going to rattle your windows. The various car wrecks sound remarkably well going from the left to right speakers and the Surrounds are also perfectly used with various sound effects from sparks hitting the ground to even the static coming in through the CB. The DTS track gets the edge because there seems to be a bit more bass during the action scenes but neither track will let you down.
EXTRAS---The only extra is the wonderful theatrical trailer, which is interesting to watch because it contains a “clean” image from what we get in the actual film. Meaning, in the film there are a few bloody bodies that are shown but in the trailer these bodies have been cleaned up to the point where you can’t even tell they were in a wreck.
OVERALL---I know a lot of people have been waiting for this film and it’s a shame it didn’t get a bigger theatrical run. I’m going to guess one reason why it didn’t get a bigger release was due to its short running time but studios need to learn that more of the junk they release runs thirty to forty minutes too long anyways. This is in no way a great film but I can certainly see a cult following happening. New Line delivers a very nice, although some production notes on the troubled history of this film would have been nice.
Release Date: August 24th, 2004
