Lawless, starring Shia Labeouf and Tom Hardy, can be described in much the same terms as Hardy’s portrayal of bootlegger Forrest Bondurant in the film.
It’s unpretentious, patient, deliberate, deadly serious and utterly mesmerizing.
What’s it about?
Forrest, along with his two brothers, Jack (Lebeouf) and Howard (Jason Clarke), distill, sell, and transport moonshine out of their small roadside diner in Franklin County, Virginia.
This is a place where just about every resident has a role in the moonshine industry. It is the only remaining “cash crop” left to these survivors of World War I, Spanish Flu, and the Depression.
Local law benefits from the trade just as much as common folk. As a result, Franklin County and the “Bondurant Boys” get along for the most part without the bloody gangland battles that characterized Al Capone’s Chicago during the same period.
However, all that changes when a few outsiders come to town. First, there’s Maggie (Jessica Chastain), a big city girl with that “I’ve got a past I’m running from” look in her eyes. She shows up at the Bondurant’s diner looking for work and Forrest hires her almost against his will.
Far more dangerous is Special Deputy Charlie Rakes (Guy Pearce, brilliant). A city dweller, Rakes hates Franklin County and everyone in it. Despite his feelings, he knows there’s money to be made there, so he’s not going anywhere.
Just about everyone in Franklin rolls over for him except for the Bondurants. As you can imagine, it all goes downhill from there.
Honors real-life history
Lawless is based on real-life facts and historical figures.
Australian musician and screenwriter Nick Cave adapted the novel The Wettest County in the World, written by Matt Bondurant, for the film’s screenplay. As directed by John Hillcoat (The Road, The Proposition), the film honors that real-life history with a deliberately gritty and un-stylized look and feel.
It’s a quiet, slow-paced film punctuated by brief episodes of brutal, grisly violence, which convincingly mimics the pace of what life in that world and time must have been like.
Though Shia Lebeouf has top billing here, he’s easily the least interesting presence on screen. As the “runt of the Bondurant litter” who supposedly matures in the face of the violence that’s come to Franklin County, Lebeouf’s Jack cowers and whines in an inconsistent accent for most of the film.
Far more engaging is the wise, stoic, and seemingly immortal Forrest, who works hard to keep his brothers in line and his business operating smoothly without overreaching. With his battered hat pulled low over his eyes, Forrest intimidates with single words or even less.
Equally fascinating on-screen is the vicious Deputy Rakes, who Guy Pearce plays to the hilt as the epitome of evil and hypocrisy, a “lawman” who uses his authority to leech off of the livelihood of people who are already on the brink and barely surviving.
Like Hardy, Pearce often disappears into meaty character roles and makes them unforgettable. Rakes is just such a character, with his dandy mannerisms, his meticulously-dyed black hair and absent eyebrows, and the sneer with which he infects his every word. It’s no understatement to say that he’s truly hissable, and you want to see him get his due in the worst possible way by the end of the film.
Worth seeing?
Finally, Chastain and Mia Wasikowska (Jane Eyre, Alice in Wonderland), as the town preacher’s daughter who’s the object of Jack’s affections, both make the most of their screen time and the parts they have to play in the story.
But make no mistake: Lawless is a film about hard men (well, aside from Labeouf) living in a difficult and dangerous time. The tension and violence that erupts between these men, as well as what each is willing to do to protect what they feel is theirs, is what makes this compelling cinema and a worthy addition to the genre of gangland dramas.
Lawless
Starring Shia Labeouf, Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, and Guy Pearce. Directed by John Hillcoat.
Running Time: 115 minutes
Rated R for strong bloody violence, language and some sexuality/nudity.
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