by Nick Growall
Staff writer
Gritty, bloody and true to its nature, director John Hilcoat’s “Lawless” is a no holds barred film depicting the rough lives of bootleggers in the Prohibition era of the 1930s.
Although it doesn’t quite reach the grand scale it has set itself up for, it is an interesting and well-performed tale about brotherhood and community, covering an aspect of that era that is generally passed over for the more glamorous characters of its time.
The film, based on a true story, focuses on the lives of the Bondurant brothers, Forrest (Tom Hardy – “Inception,” “Dark Knight Rises”), Howard (Jason Clarke – “Public Enemies”) and Jack (Shia LaBeouf – “Transformers”), who run a bootlegging business in Franklin County, Virginia, using their bar as a front.
Conflicts arise with the arrival of Special Agent Charlie Rakes (Guy Pearce – “Memento,” “L.A. Confidential”) on behalf of a powerful gangster from the local city who wants in on the Bondurants’ profits.
Hardy is on form as usual, as the leader of his family business and a local legend. Hardy comes off as a bear of a man, lumbering from place to place as a force to be reckoned with.
His character, with a deep Virginia accent and mumbling tendencies, surprisingly prefers words over war, unless provoked to help his brothers or the bar’s waitress Maggie (Jessica Chastain – “The Help,” “The Tree of Life”), whom he develops a relationship with over the course of the film.
However, the focus of the film is on LeBeouf’s character Jack, the youngest of the three brothers. After a chance encounter with a famous gangster, portrayed with menacing glee by Gary Oldman (“Dark Knight” trilogy, “Book of Eli”), Jack aspires to replicate his idol’s lifestyle, using his knowledge to make his brothers’ business more successful.
LeBeouf, after surviving the atrocities of the “Transformers” series and the fourth installment of the “Indiana Jones” films—that as far as I’m concerned, never existed—redeems himself in this film. He shows he is a capable actor who can stand his ground with heavy-hitters like Hardy, Pierce and Oldman, as well as in tender scenes with Chastain and Mia Wasikowska (“Alice in Wonderland”), who plays the town preacher’s daughter who catches LeBouf’s eye.
Unlike other films of the gangster genre, which glorify its anti-heros and their life of luxury, Lawless remains more realistic and down to earth towards its players and their lifestyles.
Our heroes are hard-boiled backwoodsmen who often deal with the uglier side of the business. This is personified by Pierce’s off-kilter, by-any-means-necessary Rakes, who tears the county apart in his attempts to uncover the Bondurant’s secret business.
The dialogue of the film, provided by former songwriter Nick Cave, is well-written, giving a genuine feel to its characters by mixing local sayings with fresh, thought-provoking conversation, while avoiding often-heard clichéd phrases.
But where the film deviates from its genre counterparts is also where it runs into its issues: gone are the over-the-top shootouts and action-packed chase sequences, replaced with quieter moments for the actors to chew scenery with.
While some might enjoy this change of pace, the majority of filmgoers will have issues with the lack of the former characteristics, growing tired with the film’s long pace and its anti-climatic ending.
Shia LaBeouf as Jack Bondurant in “Lawless” staggers, gun in hand, during the movie’s final fight scene.