Lawless

Logline: Set in Depression-era Franklin County, Virginia, a bootlegging gang is threatened by a new deputy and other authorities who want a cut of their profits.

Cast: Shia LaBeouf, Tom Hardy, Guy Pearce, Gary Oldman, Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Mia Wasikowska

Directed by: John Hillcoat

Yup, a rare Saturday review going up because this just got released last night and it's been on my list of upcoming movies of interest for quite awhile now. I may or may not make a post on Monday - being labor day and all... we'll see.

Summary

This film takes place in the prohibition era and follows the story of three brothers from the Bondurant family. They are moonshine bootleggers and they turn quite a profit doing what they do. Shortly into the movie a man named Charlie Rakes takes over as the new deputy in town and attempts to take down the brothers and squash their reputation as being immortal.

Review

This movie strives for perfection with every single scene. It's beautifully filmed and well paced. It may not hit its ultimate goal, but it sure tries really hard in doing so.

As far as story goes, Lawless is basic formula for the most part. There's something that happens midway in that had me thinking "oh, wow." You'll see. For the most part it has a slow build up, but there are always scenes that movie the plot forward. I also enjoyed the fact that they didn't exploit the love interests too much. Some movies have a tendency of turning a crime drama into a romance. Not knocking it, I just felt it wouldn't have fit well in this one.

I think most of my positive review will be in my topic of the day.

Topic of the Day

One thing that Lawless nails that most movies have a really hard time doing is the creation of unique and memorable characters.

Tom Hardy plays Forrest Bondurant. He's the alpha male brother and knocks people out with a single blow. Seems pretty stock, no? Well, when you add in the comical grunts, the speeches that make no sense to distract the enemy, and the immortal status that is achieved through stuff I can't spoil - he becomes this awesome bad ass character. Shia LeBeouf plays the younger brother who always relies on his brothers to protect him. This is also pretty stock, but when you put a guy like Shia who is perfect for that type of role, the character becomes really believable and the journey of him growing up to defend himself is something you can cheer for. Charlie Rakes is such a good enemy too. No eyebrows, slicked back black hair. Everything about the guy makes you want to watch him die. I also noticed that every character had a certain trait to them - bad ass, drunk, dependent, smug, crippled, etc. It was a really nice blend.

The only disappointment was that Gary Oldman is only in two scenes. I thought for sure he'd play a bigger part later in the story, but he didn't. It's weird they have him listed in the trailer before Guy Pearce.

Consensus

Lawless is solid western movie. Each character is unique and memorable in his own way. The slowness of the movie is filled with comical subtleties while the rest is filled with violent action with the story always moving forward. Although it doesn't hit its goal of perfection, it's still a pretty damn good try. I really liked it.

8/10