Review of Lawless (2012) by Joe O — 09 May 2013
The Best Shia LaBeouf movie to date. That being said, it's very average. Tom Hardy did a fantastic job acting as usual, and Jessica Chastain is quickly becoming my favorite actress. This film about a family of moonshiners could have been so much more.
It really never had that special quintessential western showdown, even though it technically wasn't a western per se, it was just sort of presented that way. The climax of the movie was much like the rest of the movie.
It was good, but it could have been so much more. It's not amazing like Tombstone, Unforgiven, 3:10 to Yuma, or Django Unchained. It never has that 'MOMENT'. Tombstone has it's , 'you tell them I'm coming and hell's coming with me!, and 'Why Johnny Ringo you look like somebody just walked over your grave'.
3:10 to Yuma has, 'You just remember that your old man walked Ben Wade to that station, when nobody else would.', and Django Unchained has 'You REALLY want me to shake your hand?...Well if you insist.
'. Of course these are quotations, but the scenes that go with these quotations are memorable. Scenes that transcend the genre of a Western. That by saying that little line, it evokes that iconic scene into your mind that makes a Western set apart from being average to being something very special.
Really it was the direction of the movie that is the problem. You can't really say it was bad because it was a well acted, well written movie, it just needed that extra suspense and heart racing drama in the climax, or in any scene to set it apart and make it iconic, instead of just an average film.
This review of Lawless (2012) was written by Joe O on 09 May 2013.
Lawless has generally received positive reviews.
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