Review of Lawless (2012) by Ola G — 10 Feb 2013

Set in 1931, Franklyn County/Virginia, Forrest Bondurant (Tom Hardy) is a legend as immortal after surviving the war. Together with his brothers Howard (Jason Clarke) and the coward Jack (Shia LaBeouf), the Bondurant family has a distillery and bootlegging business. When the corrupt District Attorney Mason Wardell arrives in Franklyn with the unscrupulous Special Deputy Charles Rakes (Guy Pearce), the Bondurant family refuses to pay the required bribe to the authorities. Rakes pursuits the brothers and unsuccessfully tries to find their distillery. Meanwhile Forrest hires the waitress Maggie (Jessica Chastain), a woman with a hidden past in Chicago, and eventually they end up together. Jack courts the preacher's daughter Bertha Minnix (Mia Wasikowska) and starts to do his own bootlegging deals with the powerful gangster Floyd Banner (Gary Oldman). Jack then starts to show off in Franklyn with new clothes and a new car that soon enough attracts the attention of Rakes who is getting closer to the Bondurant family...

On paper "Lawless" sounds great. Directed by John Hillcoat, screenplay by Nick Cave and with a pretty solid cast and a true story behind the script. However, the endresult is maybe not that satisfying. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film 2 stars out of 5, writing, "it's basically a smug, empty exercise in macho-sentimental violence in which we are apparently expected to root for the lovable good ol' boys, as they mumble, shoot, punch and stab." Which points out the main problem. The characters are all blend, not properly developed, and you feel no emotional attachment to any of them. Shia LaBeouf is miscast and Tom Hardy does his weakest role. The only one managing to stand out is Guy Pearce's Rakes and he is basically overacting as much as he can. The dialogue is as well stilted and not engaging. And it gets this sort of clichéd balance when Hillcoat and co tries to convince us that we see a mythic depiction of the outlaw way of existence, meaning relentless killing needs to be the main ingredience. Thus, I don't really believe in the characters or the storyline. Yes, "Lawless" has a craftsmanship feeling over it and it's well made, but in the end the lack of conviction made me lose interest and engagement during the running time. But, its always a treat to see Jessica Chastain.