29th Mar2022

‘The Highwayman: The Legend of Dick Turpin’ Review

by Phil Wheat

Stars: Mollie Hindle, Morgan Rees-Davies, Tom Hendryck, Ciaron Davies, Stacey Gough, Melvyn Rawlinson, Steve Dolton | Written and Directed by Steve Lawson

After a disastrous attempt to rob the carriage of the Earl of Pembroke, famed highwayman Dick Turpin finds himself on the run in the English countryside with the only thing of value he was able to steal – the Earl’s feisty daughter, Elizabeth.

Steve Lawson mines familiar territory once again with The Highwayman: The Legend of Dick Turpin… Yes, after bringing us films about Van Helsing, Jack the Ripper, Jekyll & Hyde and most recently the Musketeers, Lawson picks up the tale of the legendary roguish highwayman. A character who, once upon a time, was a focus of a myriad of films and TV shows yet nowadays seems to have been left on by the wayside (pun intended).

The Highwayman opens with Dick Turpin trying to hijack a carriage which, if you’ve seen any of Lawson’s other recent films, comes as something of a shock – it’s set outdoors, filmed on location. Which, given that most of his recent work has been filmed indoors, on as few sets as possible, is something of a pleasant surprise! We return to the outdoors once more during the film, as Turpin steals Elizabeth away – the exact same spot the film opened in, revealing that – unfortunately – we’re not going to get anything other than typical Lawson fare.

And that fare is yet another two-location film as Turpin talks to his kidnapee Elizabeth and Turpin’s nemesis Jack Jones, now going under the name Winthroppe, bargains with Elizabeth’s father for her hand in marriage. And by bargain I mean bribe him with coal, the latest fuel source, in exchange for him forcing Elizabeth to marry him AND signing his home over to be turned into a mine! The film then cuts back and forth, back and forth between characters and sets for the remainder of the film – in very much the same way that The Fourth Musketeer did, telling its story through talk rather than action. In fact, the only action here in Winthroppe bumping off pretty much everyone who crosses his path!

Luckily for the audience the aforementioned Winthroppe is played by Tom Hendryk, who also starred in Lawson’s Bram Stoker’s Van Helsing and Jekyll & Hyde, and who is easily the best actor among the stable Lawson has put together for his productions. Whilst Hendryk has played the hero, or at least a good guy, in previous films, here he’s Turpin’s antagonist; the man who’ll stop at nothing to get what he wants, with only Turpin thwarting his plan. Hendryk is a brilliant villain: smarmy, duplicitous and threatening. In fact, he’s a better villain than Hyde was in Jekyll & Hyde, in which Hendryk appeared, and Hyde is a traditional movie-monster!

Whilst I did say there’s very little action in The Highwayman: The Legend of Dick Turpin we do get a couple of minor fight scenes, both of which at least break up the monotony of the talking heads style production. But it’s not enough to take The Highwayman into action movie territory. In fact this film feels very much akin to Lawson’s take on the Musketeers – a disappointingly talky version of a familiar story. This small-scale formula worked well for Lawson’s horror stories, however the fact he chose two “legendary” tales that demand action and adventure and provided very little in his iterations will only dishearten audiences.

This will still sell DVD units based on audience familiarity and artwork alone though… But I doubt anyone will be up for the obviously set-up sequel after watching this!

** 2/5

The Highwayman: The Legend of Dick Turpin is set for release on DVD on May 9th 2022 courtesy of High Fliers.

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