Plunkett & Macleane (1999)

Date Reviewed: 9-5-2002

Critical Kobold Rating:  (4 out of 5 Tasty Fish)

 

Romp & Ruckus!

     I had been debating renting Plunkett & Macleane off and on. It looked like a good adventure flick, but I’d heard not even the slightest about it. It was as though no one spoke of it. Luckily, one evening it came on late night TV, and I got to see it without spending valuable cash at the video store! Woo hoo! Free show!

     But, ah! I would’ve actually spent money on it if I’d known how really good this movie was! Set in late 1740’s London, it isn’t a fantasy genre movie, but it is a good action-adventure period piece.

     Plunkett is a former pharmacist turned brigand, wanted for armed robbery. He lost his apothecary business to hard times, and lost his wife to illness, and so turned to highway robbery out of desperation. Macleane is a disillusioned army captain, jailed for public drunkenness and unbecoming conduct. His family came into money, but the haughty English nobility still look down on him as a peasant. Mr. Chance is a violent but effective guardsman charged with apprehending our heroes. Liv Tyler is the young hottie Rebecca, the daughter of Lord Gibson (a pasty, fat bureaucrat of the English government).
 

     When our story begins, Plunkett is attempting to steal enough money to sail to America, to get away from the harsh life he has in aristocratic and elitist London. During a bungled carriage robbery and while pursued by Mr. Chance, he accidentally frees Macleane from his cell when the carriage crashes into the small debtor’s jail. Macleane, hiding in the darkened cell, watches Chance sadistically torture and kill Plunkett’s partner when said partner won’t give up Plunkett’s name. After the guardsmen leave, Macleane sneaks out of his cell and off into the night.

     The two wanted men meet the next night in a cemetery during a small incident of graverobbing, and Plunkett decides to replace his erstwhile partner with Macleane. Because Macleane was a military officer, he knows many English noblemen, and he can move in wealthy circles, and being of a somewhat neutral moral bent, he feels no remorse about robbing these pompous dandies. Macleane goes to fancy balls and upper-crust gambling gatherings, finds targets carrying the most cash, and then the two heroes waylay their be-wigged benefactors after the parties. So with Plunkett’s experience and Macleane’s resources, the two become notorious “gentlemen highwaymen” in no time.  

     The film is a buddy flick at heart, with the pair being reluctant partners at first and true friends by the end. There are a number of characters rounding out the players in the story, most notably the really bisexually flamboyant Earl of Rochester (“I swing every way”), who invites Macleane to all the best parties (thereby allowing him to scout out targets), and Rebecca, who captures Macleane’s heart with her piercing green eyes and corseted bosom (thereby making things difficult later when they must rob her father). 

     The action is exceptionally cool in the movie, with many flintlock musket shoot-outs and, of course, the many chase scenes on horseback, foot, and carriage that one expects from your basic catch-a-thief movie. There’s humor thrown in often enough to keep the tone light, but not so often or slapsticky that it detracts from the adventurous mood either. There are no sword fights, but there are some excellent explosions thanks to Plunkett’s home-made alchemical creations.

Plunkett is workin' it with fashion by Gentlemen Highwaymen.

     Most odd about the film is the choice of kickin’, almost techno music for the background soundtrack. The characters are all dancing as though to the chintzy harpsichord strains you’d expect them to hear in the 1700’s, but you the viewer are listening to some modern rockin’ tunes. I enjoy my films to have an updated soundtrack, but for those of you die hard period fans out there, the thumping, pulsing drumbeat and electric synth chords heard during the gala ball scenes will make you blink more than once. It lends a feeling of modern-movie adrenaline to the proceedings, but definitely does not attempt to be 18th century English by any stretch of the imagination.

     It comes down to the final plan… in order to get enough money to leave for America, Plunkett & Macleane have to rob Rebecca’s father, who’s about to take her out of the country after he’s been removed from office by the coldly calculating Mr. Chance. Chance, meanwhile, knows who the Gentlemen Highwaymen are, and is closing in on the protagonists. Rebecca also figures out who they are, after she and Macleane fall for each other; so will she help them rob her family, or betray them to save her father? Will Mac be able to go through with robbing Rebecca’s family, since he has strong feelings for her? If the robbery goes South and they can’t fund their trip to America, what happens to our duo, now that the brutal Mr. Chase is on their trail? And does anyone else think the Earl of Rochester looks a lot like Pee Wee Herman, or is it just me?

"Stand and deliver!   Wait... Pee Wee?!"

     While there are no big surprises in the film plot-wise, it was overall a most excellent viewing experience. The character development and story flow are smooth and well-done, the scenery is eye catching, and there are enough subplots to keep things interesting without being distracting. I recommend it for those of you wishing for a good old-fashioned action flick or heist movie, but something with a twist.

"Seriously? Was this part of the plan? Because I think I'd

remember if this had been part of the plan..."

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