Highwaymen is an entertaining thriller pitched somewhere between Duel and The Fast and the Furious, but never close to matching either despite some impressive sequences.

Jim Caviezel (The Passion of the Christ) plays Rennie, an intense loner who spends his life chasing Fargo (Colm Feore), a lunatic petrolhead who ran over Rennie's wife, and has carried on killing. When Fargo fails to kill Molly (Rhona Mitra), Rennie decides to use her as bait.

It's a strong premise, with striking cinematography, presenting a grimy vision of the highway as a lawless wilderness. The film's visual strengths are emphasised by a screenplay that uses minimal dialogue, telling the story simply and powerfully through action.

The film also builds considerable suspense, as for the first half we only see Fargo's car, which is suitably threatening. Once we meet Fargo, however, the film falls flat, as he turns out to be a paraplegic held together by a collection of braces and prosthetic limbs -- about as scary as a Meccano set.

The other problem is that once Rennie convinces the girl to act as bait the chase is over, so we know all we're left with is one big action sequence, and even that turns out to be disappointing. Nonetheless Highwaymen is just about worth seeing, if only for its hilarious closing line.

(Released by New Line Cinema and rated "R" for violence, some gore and brief language.)