Verdict: Lots of potential, much of it unfulfilled.

Details: Starring Robert Carlyle, Jonny Lee Miller and Liv Tyler. Directed by Jake Scott. Rated R for strong violence, sexuality, nudity and profanity. 1 hour, 40 minutes.

Rate it: Write your own review

Review: OK, so some of us are suckers for highwaymen movies. Even so-so ones like "Plunkett & Macleane."

This British import attempts to capitalize on the enormous stateside success of "Trainspotting" by re-teaming two of its stars: Robert Carlyle (who's since become even better known for "The Full Monty") and Jonny Lee Miller.

The year is 1748. Plunkett (Carlyle), an apothecary turned thief, and Macleane (Miller), a gentleman fallen on hard times, meet in London's Newgate Prison. A partnership is formed. Macleane, leaning on his posh upbringing, chats up aristocrats at their own parties and finds out who's the most loaded (financially and alcohol-wise). Then he and Plunkett pick off the unlucky victim on his way home. Their courteous manner earns them a certain amount of public support, but Mr. Chance (Ken Stott), the corrupt and sadistic Thief Taker General, wants their heads. He has political ambitions that can be furthered only by seeing these bandits swinging from the gallows.

Directed by Jake Scott (son of Ridley, as in "Blade Runner" and "Thelma & Louise"), the movie has an attention-grabbing visual style. Either way, the dark, saturated tones at times suggest Hogarth's etchings of the period. Plus, the decidedly non-period soundtrack creates an anachronistic juxtaposition that's eerie one moment, jarring the next. A strained minuet done to a techno beat suggests the vampire's ball in Roman Polanski's "The Fearless Vampire Killers."

What the film lacks, alas, is a similar sense of style when it comes to its characters and dialogue. We're supposed to take Plunkett and Macleane as kind of Gen-X versions of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (as incarnated '60s-style by Paul Newman and Robert Redford). But the picture is so busy laying on the London fog and the eat-the-rich grotesques that we barely get to know them as individuals, much less as unlikely friends.

Far too many scenes are devoted to a romance between Macleane and "fiery" Lady Rebecca (a listless but lovely Liv Tyler) that never sparks. (Maybe he should've tried animal crackers on her belly a la "Armageddon.") Meanwhile, Carlyle is left with nothing to do. This is a terrible mistake given that he's not only the best actor on this screen but his is also the most intriguing character — a sort of common-man hero with no use for upper-class twits, aside from robbing them of their valuables.

Also wasted is Alan Cumming (Broadway's "Cabaret"), playing an extravagant yet likable fop who, as he says, "swings every way." He also, from certain angles, looks remarkably like Pee-wee Herman in a frock coat.

So give "Plunkett & Macleane" a chance if lines like "Stand and deliver!" or "The moon was a ghostly galleon" get your blood going. Just remember, this movie stands, but it doesn't always deliver.

— Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Cox News Service

[an error occurred while processing this directive]