The Highwayman

I like this genre of movie, tight action, swashbuckling high links, horse chases, heroic endeavours... Oh wait, there is none of that in this movie. Okay, what you do get is a lame horse, so to speak. I'm not sure if it is the cast or the bad writing, but this movie doesn't feel authentic. The story is so so, if not a little predictable and has a villain that seems to be from another movie altogether. Sure, I understand low budget constraints so 5/5 for that, but 4/10 is my score. One thing I noted was the British actors playing the roles in a British story, glad it was not completely ruined by, shall we say, other actors from across the pond. 😃 Conclusion: Not bad and not good; mediocre.

The film takes place circa 1735-1737 based on the actual life of Dick Turpin. During the film he relates a brief autobiography which we never see. We are treated to a fictional account of his encounter with a young lady (Mollie Hindle) who is set to marry a different scoundrel. A film of his real life would have been nice instead of a Monty Python style gentleman bandit. I was half expecting him to rob folks of lupines. Slightly on the entertaining side. Guide: No swearing, sex, or nudity.

Normally I would give a film like this a 1, but because this is such a low budget affair, I gave it one extra 1. Poorly acted written and directed, I cannot find much to recommend it to to the discerning viewer.

I'm not sure what age group this was made for, but I think maybe it's more for 14 year old girls rather than adults. The story is kind of pointless. The actions of the characters (especially Elizabeth) are just annoying, and the acting is pretty poor. You have an obnoxious female character, a pretty useless highwayman, and a villain who is kind of over the top evil. It was predictable and nothing new. The whole thing didn't work for me. I watched it as it was rated over 7, but IMDB is just so full of fake reviews and ratings these days that the rating doesn't really mean much anymore. This is definitely not a 9 or 10 star movie, unless you are buddies with he director or one of the main actors. I wouldn't bother with this one.

The fun starts in the opening scene. The Highwayman hero, brandishing a flintlock pistol, stands in the road as a coach approaches. As the coach comes into view, the highwayman fires his pistol into the air (a warning shot, no doubt) then he points the pistol at the coach and demands, "Your money or your life!" He has already spent his load! 18th century flintlocks were not repeating firearms. What kind of highwayman threatens a victim with an empty gun? THIS kind of nonsensically written, low-budget, poorly acted highwayman is the kind of hero that almost entertains in this shoddy piece of almost funny escapism. The film makers try hard but just do not achieve Ed Wood standards of humor. The sets are a bit too tidy, and the actors lack that sense of devotion to the material despite the odds that could have made this a true gem, like say, Beretta's Island. Rather, it just muddles along, content with its own mediocrity, failing to rise to the genuine entertainment of a truly bad movie.

Right, well as I stumbled upon this 2022 adventure movie from writer and director Steve Lawson, I was immediately reminiscing having sat and watched the 1979 series "Dick Turpin" when I was a child, and remembering it fondly, of course I opted to sit down and watch "The Highwayman". Well, I just never did get into the atmosphere of this 2022 movie from Steve Lawson. There was just something fundamental missing from the movie. It was a combination of a lack atmosphere and props that just never brought about the right feel of the era, and a good dose of the storyline being rather mundane and the characters equally mundane. So it was not a great movie experience to watch "The Highwayman". The storyline told in "The Highwayman", as written by Steve Lawson, just never caught on with me. It was too simplistic and lacking ingredients that would sweep me off of my feet and take me out on the rugged roads of old Britain. So it was a bland narrative that didn't have much of any force or momentum to carry it. I am sure that the casting choices for "The Highwayman" were adequate, but the actors and actresses had so little material to work with, that they were struggling to keep afloat. A shame really, because I doubt that the actors and actresses here were inadequate. They just simply didn't have the tools available for a monumental performance. For a historical adventure then "The Highwayman" was very flaccid. It is not a movie that I would recommend you waste your time, money or effort on. Some of us did, so you don't have to. My rating of "The Highwayman" lands on a three out of ten stars. Sadly, the movie's cover/poster was actually the best thing about the entire experience.

The film takes place circa 1735-1737 based on the actual life of Dick Turpin. During the film he relates a brief autobiography which we never see. We are treated to a fictional account of his encounter with a young lady (Mollie Hindle) who is set to marry a different scoundrel. A film of his real life would have been nice instead of a Monty Python style gentleman bandit. I was half expecting him to rob folks of lupines. Slightly on the entertaining side. Guide: No swearing, sex, or nudity.