The balance between a movie’s screenplay and direction is
much like the bonding between brick and mortar; if one element is faulty, the
walls will simply come crumbling down. Enter John Hillcoat’s LAWLESS; his
unbalanced look at the bootlegging business during the (goddamn) Prohibition
years.
The Bondurant bothers, Forrest (Tom Hardy), Howard (Jason
Clarke), and the youngest, Jack (Shia LaBeouf) are at the heart of the
bootlegging business in the hills of backwater Virginia. When Special Deputy
Rakes (Guy Pearce) appears looking for a handout, Forrest sticks to his
principles and refuses to pay the shakedown, which results in a bloody war
between the brothers and Rakes. Meanwhile, Forrest encounters romance with
city-transplant Maggie (Jessica Chastain), Jack courts the preacher’s daughter
Bertha (Mia Wasikowska), just when big-time Chicago gangster Floyd Banner (Gary
Oldman) appears in town.
Based on a true story and remarkably brought to life by Hillcoat’s
outstanding and beautiful direction, LAWLESS is at its strongest when it
concentrates on the heroes of the story; the brothers. The film starts off
strongly with a great family dynamic with the older brother acting as the
patriarch, the middle brother a screwup, and the youngest trying to be older
than he actually is. When the outside world begins to threaten their way of
life, the brothers play off each other and fight against the odds and that is
when LAWLESS it at its strongest and most compelling.
The film eventually shifts focus over to Jack, and becomes
his coming-of-age story. While that is a natural progression for the film, it
is Jack’s courting of the preacher’s daughter where things grind to a halt. The
romantic storyline does not mesh well with the rest of the goings-on, and has
little to no consequence in the grand scheme of things by movie’s end. It is
intrusive and a massive momentum-killer, and worst of all, takes attention away
from the brothers. The screenplay, adapted by Nick Cave, is the fatal flaw in
LAWLESS; with so much time taken away from what should have been the
centerpiece (the brothers and their plight), there is little reason to care
about anything.
John Hillcoat’s direction has, however created a beautiful
looking film. With stunning cinematography and remarkable set design, the
back-country world of 1930’s Virginia is a marvel to look at. The film is also
backed by an outstanding and moving soundtrack right out of the OH BROTHER
WHERE ART THOU universe.
Hillcoat also directs some incredible performances out his
ensemble cast. Everyone pulls off their southern drawls very well while
vanishing into their characters. Tom Hardy and Guy Pearce are elemental forces
in the film, and Shia LaBeouf turns in his best performance ever. Jessica
Chastain is lovely and convincing as always, and Gary Oldman is spectacular as
the Chicago gangster, even though he is criminally under-used (he appears for a
grand total of five minutes).
The finale tries to be an explosive one but ultimately feels
empty as there is not much to get invested in at that point; there just isn’t
very much to bring conclusion to. It ultimately makes for a frustrating watch;
the acting and directing is superb, but that gets overshadowed by a bloated and
clumsy script.
BOTTOM LINE: Rent it
Tom Hardy is the man in this flick but the one who really runs away with it all is Guy Pearce who has never ever been as vicious as he is here. Everybody else here is great too, but he’s the one who steals the show, in my opinion. Nice review Alan.
ReplyDeleteAgree, and if the writing was a little better Pearce could have rivaled Ledger's Joker.
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