The Highwaymen

Two old school lawpersons are tasked with tracking Bonnie & Clyde, who have unleashed a rampant crime spree on unsuspecting middle-America.

They've been on the road for most their lives but had recently been enjoying retirement, until the stakes became too high and Ma Ferguson (Kathy Bates) came a' callin'.

Their knowledge gives them a shrewd leg up as they set out in search of madness, the couple already having shot 6 professionals, and evaded capture amidst spurned ubiquity.

The outlaws are loved and cherished which makes acquiring information difficult, and they're familiar with multiple jurisdictions and have widespread contacts along the way.

But Frank Hamer (Kevin Costner) and Maney Gault (Woody Harrelson) are familiar with drastic protocol, and confident in their sleuthing, even if they've aged since yesteryear.

They vigorously hit the road in search of moribund crisis.

Casting roll call aside.

The limits of their territory presenting non-negotiable constraints, they engage like wild frontierpersons, inviolable stalwart contingencies. 

Difficult to say if it's a matter of luck or swift determination that lithely guides them. 

But they do proceed unerring.

Omniscient, as it's written.

Perhaps written a bit too directly, as if Frank and Maney possessed divine instinct, and were therefore justified in taking reckless steps, to put an end to the wanton bloodshed.

I suppose Bonnie & Clyde were exceptional inasmuch as they gunned down so many policepersons, and seemed like they were getting away with it, across so many state lines.

But so many others are shot down by the police in routine circumstances having done no wrong (so many of them African Americans), The Highwaymen's more of a character study of grim fatalistic rangers, than a multidimensional perplexity replete with cultural intrigue.

It's cool to see so much Costner and Harrison, but a closer examination of the abstruse terrain would have been clever.

Not that the film isn't intelligent it just employs a less intricate style, like the honest controversial scenarios you find in a derelict western.

It's not that it isn't well done with several thoughtful memorable scenes, it's just so bluntly good vs. evil that so much is lost in between.

If it's remembered that the circumstances are exceptional and Bonnie & Clyde need to be hunted down that's one thing, but its one-dimensional promotion of the evil criminal implicitly suggests so many are absolutely guilty.

And that's simply not the case, circumstance and upbringing should be considered, prejudicial shackles and hopeless impoverishment often resulting in misguided crime.

Not that people should get away with it or victims shouldn't have their say, but the reasons explaining why someone chooses a life of crime go far beyond cookie cut polarities.

Good jobs, a foreseeable future, can lead to much less poverty.

An emphasis on racial equality can fight against internalized prejudice.