Review: Lawless

Set in a small rural Virginian town in the early 30s, we follow a family of moonshiners during Prohibition. They are the Bondurant brothers, headed by imposing, taciturn eldest brother Forrest (Tom Hardy), who along with youngest brother Jack (Shia LaBeouf) and middle brother Howard (Jason Clarke) run a restaurant that is really just a front for their less reputable business. Into their happy little arrangement involving bribed local cops comes federal agent Charlie Rakes (an incredible Guy Pearce), an effete-looking but seriously brutal man from Chicago intent on bringing the Bondurants down. Gary Oldman plays the head of a rival outfit, Jessica Chastain plays an out-of-towner who is hoping to seek quiet refuge and employment with the boys, Mia Wasikowska plays a quiet girl from a religious family whom Jack tries to woo, and Dane DeHaan plays a sweet-natured family associate/accomplice who isn’t quite right in the head.

 

Although it’s about lesser criminals and the much lowlier crime of bootlegging, this 30s-set crime flick from Aussie director John Hillcoat (the memorable post-apocalyptic film) and inimitable writer/musician Nick Cave (who collaborated on “The Proposition”, a rather overrated film), played to me like a successful version of Michael Mann’s terrible John Dillinger film “Public Enemies”. Unlike Mann, Hillcoat and cinematographer Benoit Delhomme (“The Proposition”) manage to incorporate digital camerawork without making it look like a shonky, shaky home movie. It’s not your stylised “Untouchables” kind of gangster film, but this is a more rustic, rural-set flick anyway. The rural scenery is well-captured, feels authentic, and it doesn’t look like a shitty wedding video. Some of these locales are really gorgeous, in a hick kind of way. Meanwhile, horror movies should have lighting as good as this film has. Anything necessary is lit, everything else is pitch dark at night. Perfect.

 

Shia LaBeouf is better than you might expect (and has never been better) in an admittedly pretty easy role. I was worried about his casting because it seemed to suggest a more superficial crime/mob movie for teeny-boppers like “Mobsters”, but thankfully this is a more substantial and consistent film than that. The reliable Tom Hardy (surely one of today’s best actors) is a helluva presence if a tad mumbly. He’s really good as always, but I found him easier to understand behind that mask in “The Dark Knight Rises” than here. Guy Pearce, however walks off with the entire thing as the vile, almost dandified lawman who is one of the best villains in years. It’s an instantly creepy, off-putting performance. The lack of eyebrows is a great touch, and his bow-tie is just priceless. And yet, Pearce’s Charlie Rakes is brutal as hell, and frankly sociopathic. In any other time period, his character might’ve been a serial killer, but in this tough time, he’s a lawman. Go figure. It’s probably Pearce’s best performance since 2001’s “Memento”.

 

I do wish Jessica Chastain would let someone else get a role every now and then, and her ‘damaged goods’ role is kind of a cliché that she’s not all that great at playing. She can’t even smoke a cigarette without drawing unnecessary attention to herself. Not remotely authentic. I guess now that I no longer find Meryl Streep quite so inauthentic as an actress, Chastain has taken over that mantle. Gary Oldman gets almost no screen time, but his accent was spot-on to my ears, and it’s an interestingly shaded character. In any other film he would be the villain, and thankfully the actor often fond of chewing the scenery decides on a more modest approach. That’s smart given Guy Pearce is essentially given what used to be called the Gary Oldman role. Aussie character actor Noah Taylor is also amusingly dopey as one of his idiot henchmen, whilst Dane DeHaan’s sensitive Cricket for some reason had me flashing back to Fodderwing in “The Yearling”.

 

Really good music score by Cave and Warren Ellis, that sounds a bit like the theme from “Deadwood”. God I miss that show. Based on actual events (and a book written by the grandson of Jack Bondurant no less), this is a really solid, quite violent crime story that if nothing else, gives at least four Aussie actors (Guy Pearce, Jason Clarke, Mia Wasikowska, and Noah Taylor) some work. In the case of Jason Clarke however, he probably deserved a bit more to chew on.

 

I don’t think it’s a particularly great film to be honest, but Pearce’s performance is incredible, and Hardy certainly commands attention in every scene he is afforded. The story is a bit clichéd and predictable, but it’s certainly not a dull film. Call it a memorable villain in an OK but unmemorable film. 

 

Rating: B-