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| Lawless |
Lawless
5 of 5 stars
When the law becomes corrupt, outlaws become heroes. Set during
Prohibition and the tail end of the Depression, lifelong friends Forrest Bondurant
(Tom Hardy) and Cricket Pate (Dane Dehaan) make a living bootlegging raw
moonshine to their neighbors and the mob; all while struggling to stay one step
ahead of the law and keep a sense of ethics and pride. With Forrest’s brutal
defiance paired with Crickets’s brilliance at brewing moonshine, the pair’s business
quickly raises above all the other Franklin bootleggers. Just when all seems to
be running fine, Franklin County law enforcement gets a new special deputy,
Charlie Rakes (Guy Pierce), determined to stop Franklins flow of moonshine and
kill its brewers. One by one Franklin’s thugs are tortured or killed by Rakes
and his crew of crooked cops, until Cricket and Forrest are all that’s left. In
need of extra help, Forrest lets his timid little brother Jack (Shia LeBeouf)
in on the moonshining business. By dumb luck, Forrest gets severely wounded
just as Rakes begins closing in on the Bondurant brother’s operation, forcing
tentative Jack to somehow take his place for the time being. Can Jack fill
Forrest’s shoes? Or will Rakes shutdown the Bondurant’s whole operation and
kill them both?
I didn’t walk into the theater with very high hopes for “Lawless”,
it just seemed too cliché, Like the usual western pair punching their way through
the law, little did I know my mind was about to be blown. Based on the 2009 novel
“The Wettest County in the World” authored by Forrest’s grandson, “Lawless” is
flawless. I’m not very familiar with director John Hillcoat, but he did a
terrific job. Rarely is there a film that caries itself as well as “Lawless”,
the intensity doesn’t let up one bit, its completely unpredictable. The acting
too, was flawless. I was excited for Guy Pierce and Tom Hardy, however I didn’t
think there was any way Shia LeBeouf would pull of hard-core bootlegger Jack
Bondurant due to his long line of disappointing recent releases and acing. But I
stand corrected; he pulled it off with flying colors. Despite LeBeouf’s
stunning performance, Tom Hardy stole the spotlight 100%. I was excited for
Hardy but I never guessed he would give us such as mind boggling performance. I
could almost taste the filthy, emotionally scarred, poverty
stricken man forced
to brew moonshine to get along. The action scenes are what really hit home with
me though, I would get so excited each time I saw Forrest approach a threat
touting his muscles and brass knuckles. Unfortunately with the massive summer
blockbusters drawing to an end, and I’m fairly certain “Lawless” is the last jaw
dropper of the year (except for “Skyfall”, releasing in November); so if you
find yourself with some spare time on your hands go get one last bite out of
summer and wave the good stuff goodbye. I can confidently say “Lawless” has
been one of the best films of the year, even surpassing “The Dark Knight Rises”.
On a scale of evening price, matinee price, wait for it on DVD, or skip it; I
can solidly rate it “evening price”, and 5 out of 5 stars.
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