Highwaymen (2004)

Every so often I find a film that I missed when it was released. This week it was Highwaymen, directed by Robert Harmon who directed The Hitcher, but nothing of any note since. One of the writers, Hans Bauer, did do Anaconda and Anacondas The Hunt for the Blood Orchid, which may or may not be a recommendation.

Jim Caviezel (The Prisoner, Deja Vu) sees his girlfriend deliberately run down by a Cadillac. The film jumps forward 5 years and Caviezel is now cruising the highways in his muscle car looking for the Cadillac and its driver, Colm Feore (The Chronicles Of Riddick, Paycheck). Caviezel comes to the aid of Rhona Mitra (Underworld Rise of the Lycans, Doomsday, Skinwalkers), who also lost someone to the Cadillac and is now a target herself.

Highwayman has a Duel feel to it, as Mitra is stalked by the Cadillac, then it goes Mad Max as Caviezel arrives to play revenge seeking saviour. The film is interesting and dumb at the same time. The story of what happened between Caviezel and Feore in the missing 5 years was clever, but sadly the other parts of the film are not so clever, although the car crashes are nice (the fake people they hit are not so convincing). Mitra, who does so well in action films, spends most of the film as the damsel in distress. The film is okay, thanks to the actors and direction, and a little like a new version of Death Car On The Freeway.