Review of Lawless (2012) by Mariebella C — 26 Oct 2013

Excellent movie. A tad bit violent & gory, if you are squemish about such things, you may want to reconsider if this movie is one you want to watch it. If you like Goodfellas, Resevoir Dogs or The Untouchables, this is a movie to watch. It is a movie based on the book, "The Wettest County in the World" by Matt Bondurant( a grandson of Jack Bondurant)-the youngest of the 3 Bondurant brothers). It starts in 1928 during prohibition and runs through 1941. It entails what has been called "The Moonshine Conspiracy". It has everything you could want in a movie, great actors, a handsome leading actor Shia LaBeouf who plays Jack, also Tom Hardy- oldest brother Forrest, Gary Oldman and Guy Pearce. It has action, a great love story, and.

A bad guy(of course none of the bad guys are the Bondurant brothers but a very villainous Charley Rakes(Guy Pearce-plays Special Deputy Attorney for Virginia) that you love to hate. There is action, violence and gore galore with this moonshine war between Rakes and The Bondurant brothers that's based on fact. There are two love stories going on, one between Jack and Bertha(preacher's daughter) and the other involving oldest brother Forrest and Maggie( a former dance hall girl from Chicago who had newly arrived in Frankin county). The love story takes a big backseat though to the moonshine war, but has enough of a love story for both men and women to see this movie, though this isn't the type of movie for a romantic date night. I would not recommend for children to watch this movie due to the violence. I do feel that it stayed realistic to how times were back at the start of the depression & during. The movie did touch on the subject of the great depression, though it wasn't significantly mentioned. It is a movie that keeps your attention stuck to it & even when you do pay close attention, some of the characters are difficult to sort out. I was able to keep track of who everyone was & what their function in the movie was about 1/2way through the movie. I think I'm going to have to watch it again, now I have the basics down, to fully enjoy the movie. For this fact and the gory Nature of the violence( I'm not saying this as a bad thing, just that it wouldn't make the movie enjoyable for all viewers who may have orherwised enjoyed this movie--it could've been toned down). I'm looking forward to reading Matt Bondurant's book(which kindle version is $1.99 on sale right now). I would like to see how the two compare. An excellent movie I will definitely be watching again and again. I would highly recommend this film(except to people as noted above).