Review of Hell or High Water (2016) by Saintdecky — 02 Feb 2017

I went into this movie with very high expectations. I have just seen it even though it had been out for nearly half a year, and have gotten countless recommendations for this movie, as well as seeing lots of positive reviews for it. The movie had also gotten an Oscar nomination for best picture, increasing my expectations. Sadly, I was left unsatisfied.

Characters/Acting: The acting was well done; Chris Pine did an excellent job of portraying his character, better than I had expected. I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing him in more dramatic, Oscar-worthy performances in the future. Ben Foster did a good job as well, but Jeff Bridges, in my mind, seemed a bit overrated. He played a very Jeff Bridges character, and though he did have a good range of emotions in a few scenes, he didn't do much throughout the movie. I also didn't feel like there was enough of a connection or comparison between the two pairs of characters (Pine and Foster as brothers and Bridges and Gil Birmingham as the 2 cops). They barely even met, and I didn't feel a good comparison between the two kinds, if that's what the movie was going for.

Cinematography: Throughout the duration of the movie, there are countless, and I mean perpetual, endless shots of the small, depressed lands of Texas that the movie takes place in. Eventually I found the shots boring and repetitive, to the point where I was almost saying "if I see another shot of a barren wasteland in Texas, I'm going to throw my remote into the television.".

Overall, the movie isn't necessarily bad; it's an okay way to kill two hours. If I didn't have such high expectations from what I had read and other people suggesting it for me, I may have knocked the rating up to a 7.

Also, whenever you see it, stick around for the T-bone restaurant scene, it's the best and funniest scene of the whole movie.