I haven’t been getting out to see all the movies I’ve wanted to see lately, but I made time to go see Lawless. I quite like period piece movies like this, and the prohibition era always makes for some good crime movie fun. Outlaws and gangsters and corrupt cops always make for some really grey areas with no obvious right or wrong side to come down on. In addition to that, this movie has quite the cast of great actors filling its trailers, such as Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Shia LaBeouf, and Guy Pearce. How could I miss this?
The Bondurant Brothers Three
For those who haven’t seen any trailers like I did, I’ll give a brief summary of the story. It’s 1931. Smack in the middle of prohibition. In a small mountainous community of Franklin County in Virginia, three brothers by the name of Bondurant run the best distilleries in the county. They’re not the only ones, in fact this county is full of illegal distilleries, but their product is by far the best. It’s around this time that the corrupt law from Chicago decide they want to make some money off of what’s going on out in the mountains, and they pressure the outlaws one by one until they cave. All of them do, except the Bondurant boys. This means war. But then, there’s this little thing about a local legend about the Bondurants being unkillable. Seems that legend is about to be put to the test.
Probably the strongest thing going for this movie are its characters. Sure, having talented actors helps a lot, and their acting is definitely very good, but when the character they are portraying takes over, and you no longer “see” the actor, you know you have great characters. While the film is largely centered around Shia LaBeouf’s character of Jack Bondurant, my favorite was hands-down Tom Hardy’s Forrest Bondurant. He’s a cool and calculating man of few words, and his short and gruff grunts hide his true intelligence. Forrest Bondurant is definitely one of my favorite film characters in recent years, and I’ll remember this movie primarily because of him for years to come.
The other great thing I loved about this movie is its habit to show off so many fashions of the times. We see many characters across a wide selection of wealth, and so we are treated to many different types of clothes, as well as some wonderful cars. From the Bondurant’s old jalopy truck to the shiny new cars of the gangsters, it’s a treat to see them all racing along the forested country roads.
Tom Hardy as Forrest Bondurant. He stole the show.
Now, I have to say that while I’ve so far been singing the praises of Lawless, I can admit it isn’t without its flaws. Well, I’m not sure how much I can really call them flaws, but they could be for some. Personally I was lead to believe that Gary Oldman would feature strongly in this film, primarily because of the trailers I’ve seen. The truth of the matter is though, what you see of him in the trailers gets close to his entire screen time in the whole film. He’s barely even in the movie! That was a real disappointment to me because I think he’s an amazing actor and I just wished he was featured more heavily. He sure makes a good gangster!
The other thing that might make Lawless not for everyone is its very slow pacing. While I did enjoy the film, I have to be honest that there were times when it really seemed to be dragging its feet. This of course is also what leads to having such strong characters because a lot of time is spent developing them, but for those going into this expecting tons of mobster shoot-outs, you could be disappointed. This all comes down to personal taste, and for some this will be a positive just as much as it will be a negative for others. Personally though, I think it pays off pretty well overall. I also found it very interesting to see a prohibition story from the angle of the people who made all that booze the gangsters were selling in the cities.
In the end I can see how this movie won’t be for everyone, but it was almost exactly what I had been hoping for, other than not enough Gary Oldman. You get a good outlaw story, with strong characters, lots of good acting, and even a good coming of age tale in Shia LaBeouf’s character. If you couldn’t tell by how many times I just said it in that last sentence, I think Lawless is a very good film. So, if you’re craving some prohibition era storytelling, don’t hesitate to check this one out.
Maybe I should take this opportunity to watch Boardwalk Empire.
Positively Jim 