Lawless: NR #33

This week's movie is somewhat special. It took place in the state I live in, so the local news can't shut up about it. I was already excited knowing Tom Hardy and Gary Oldman were in it, but set in a place that I could actually go to! Sign me up. But is it a good movie, you might be asking. Well let's find out in my review of...

Let's Begin

PLOT

Back during the Prohibition days, Franklin county, Virginia became known as the "Wettest County in the World" because it was the center for moonshine and moonshiners. But a few stood out as the most notorious and popular moonshiners. They were Boundurant brothers. Three brothers who owned the moonshining business. But one day, a sleazy new deputy from Chicago arrives with the intent of stopping the brother's cash flow, At first the brothers don't think much of it, until the deputy starts cracking down hard. Now they must find a better way to do business while trying to keep the business afloat.

PROS

Everyone does a great job in this movie, the stand-outs being Tom Hardy and Guy Pearce. Tom plays the oldest, toughest, and quietest brother. He has very few lines but he has the most screen presences. This proves even more just how great of an actor Hardy is. Guy Pearce plays, basically, a cartoon villain. He literally is just one twirly mustache short of being the ultimate cartoon villain.

This is the first time in almost a decade that you don't hate Shia Lebeouf. He's actually really good here and shows us that he can be a good actor.

The film isn't afraid to go into dark places. While it's not so dark that it only appeals to a certain messed up audience, it goes just far enough to make you cringe.

CONS

While Shia does a good job in the film, he is the least interesting. His story is fine, but his other brothers have much more interesting stuff going on or legends that we only get the faintest of hints about. While it's not unbearable, since Shia is the main character, it does detract from the movie.

CONCLUSION

I went into this movie hearing that it was a light-heated, fun movie that never went into too dark of places. While I won't say it was the complete opposite of that, I do feel that it had more serious, dark moments than it did fun moments. Now does that make it a bad movie? Certainly not, in fact it made the movie more surprising. I really enjoyed this movie as a whole, while not something you need to write home about, it's still good for a matinee.

RATING

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