Review of Lawless (2012) by Dana R — 21 Apr 2016

Yes, it is another prohibition-era bootleg gang movie. Lots of gun fire, corrupt cops, graphic violence, based on true story stuff and pop-culture references. What works for it are the reliable performances from its dependable cast and what doesn't are its inconsistencies, clichés and a trait dragged too long.

Forrest (Tom Hardy), Jack (Shia LaBeouf) and Howard (Jason Clarke) are the Bondurant brothers bootlegging self-distilled liquor in a rural town during prohibition-era. There is a legend in the town which Forrest himself started and believes due to a few past incidents that the Bondurant brothers are invincible and cannot be killed. A corrupt and ruthless official special deputy Charles Rakes (Guy Pearce) arrives from the city with a task force to shutdown bootlegging. Forrest dismisses a brine proposition he is offered by Rakes thus starting a brutal confrontation.

It is a movie with an equal number of merits and flaws. Too many or too few of either of them will not give a decent result. Some sequences of strong performances paves way to loud or inexplicable ones. I watched this movie for Jessica Chastain and she plays a rather inconsequential role. The story revolves around Shia LaBeouf's Jack and only this character seems to have some variations and he shows some competence. It is quite a good thread involving Forrest's belief about invincibility, but feels quite dragged by the end. The graphic violence and gore is on par with movies of similar genre and the background score contains some very interesting tracks but the mixing and volume of them at certain moments felt a little off.

Not a recommendation but if you chance on it, you may not feel too bored.