Many have described the current state of Netflix movies as being equivalent to “direct-to-DVD” films of the past.
The current strategy of the streaming service seems to be buying the rights to any movie that would in all likelihood tank at the box office, and then release it on their platform where people are at least somewhat likely to watch it at their own leisure.
“The Highwaymen,” directed by John Lee Hancock, is the embodiment of this mentality. It is as bland and clichéd as a movie can get, and it is hard to imagine that anyone would have gone to see it had it been given a theatrical release.
The plot of this movie revolves around the true story of Frank Hamer, played by Kevin Costner, and Maney Gault, played by Woody Harrelson — two Texas Rangers who were assigned to hunt down the infamous bank robbers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow.
Bonnie and Clyde are iconic figures of crime history, and there have been a handful of films and TV shows produced about them. However, a story told not from the couple’s perspective but rather from the viewpoint of the men trying to bring the couple down had not yet been seen until now.
In other words, this movie could have been very interesting and insightful. But the creators seemed intent on making it as dull and forgettable as possible.
The best thing “The Highwaymen” has going for it from the start is its cast. Costner and Harrelson are both very talented actors, which makes one think that they might be enough to carry the film.
Unfortunately, this is not the case. Both men have been given extremely uninteresting characters to play. Hamer and Gault are such clichéd protagonists that it feels like they were created in a machine.
Costner plays his character with all the emotion of a cardboard box. The character Gault is slightly more watchable due to Harrelson’s natural charisma, but he still falls under the “alcoholic ex-cop” archetype that people have seen countless times before.
The film also moves at an excruciatingly slow pace — its over two-hour runtime does not feel earned in the slightest.
There is nothing wrong with a movie taking its time to build up tension and characters. But the problem with “The Highwaymen” is that when nothing is happening, it really feels like nothing is happening. The characters are not nearly interesting enough to make the uneventful portions of the movie entertaining.
As one could probably guess by this point, the plot is extremely by-the-numbers, as well. Even ignoring that certain events have to happen for historical accuracy, it is always incredibly obvious what the characters are going to do next.
The film’s attempt at emotional moments falls flat on its face. With characters as vanilla as these, it is impossible to feel anything, even when dramatic and violent events are occuring.
The set design is serviceable — it does its job at depicting the 1930s without ever doing anything too impressive. It is essentially the same as any other film set in this time period.
Certain scenes are downright comical in their execution. In one, Costner chases a younger character down a street. The producers do a poor job at hiding the fact that Costner’s stunt double is doing most of the running, which completely takes the viewer out of the action.
By the time “The Highwaymen” ends, it will likely fade from the minds of its viewers immediately. There is nothing about this production that makes it stand above the countless other Netflix Original films that have already been forgotten.
It is a shame, however, that Costner and Harrelson have been wasted on such mediocre material.
The former has been out of the spotlight for a long time, and it would have been nice to see him make a prominent comeback. The latter has consistently done a great job in many recent popular movies, so it is unfortunate that he could not continue that streak here.
It does not seem as though Netflix plans on changing their business model any time soon. Sadly, this means that low-effort content like this will continue to be rewarded. It is hard to recommend “The Highwaymen” even as light entertainment, as it is far too dull and long to fit that description.
Thank you for posting this review. I had to scour the whole entire internet to find someone with a sensible point of view on this remarkable waste of my two hours. I agree wholeheartedly with your assessment of Netflix. Keep up the good work.
I agree with Pat LaMarco except he doesn’t go far enough with his criticism. The movie should have shown us why Hamet and Gault had built the reputations they had. Instead they were totally uninspiring and dull. Hamet always looked like he was in a bad mood for some reason and Gault had the same stupid look on his face all movie long. Costner and Harrelson were completely wasted in a movie that never should have been made.