Film Review: Lawless

Director: John Hillcoat

Based on the historical novel The Wettest Country in the World by Matt Bondurant, Nick Cave sculpted an intriguing screenplay about a family of bootleggers out in the country of Virginia during the prohibition era in America. Nick Cave also wrote most of the score to the movie as well which is superbly in keeping with the time the movie is set, there are certainly some great songs in there.

Forrest Bondurant (Tom Hardy), Jack (Shia LeBeouf) and Howard (Jason Clarke) are running a successful business selling illegal liquor around the state of Virginia. They are joined by Maggie Beauford (star performance by Jessica Chastain) who works as a waitress in their bar but she is also followed from Chicago by Special Agent Charlie Rakes (Guy Pearce) who intends to make the entire state dry of illegal liquor. There is huge money to be made so there is a lot of bloodshed in the battle for business.



Forrest Bondurant (Tom Hardy) and Maggie Beauford (Jessica Chastain)



Shia LeBeouf takes the lead as the slightly shy youngest brother who is introduced into the bootlegging business by his brothers whilst also falling for a local religious girl called Bertha (Mia Wasikowska). Shia does a capable job in the lead and is improved from other performances I've recently seen him in and is over-shadowed by the talent around him. Tom Hardy as the rough older brother is excellent and Guy Pearce is everything you hate in a man as the sadistic Special Agent but Jessica Chastain is the star as Maggie, a beautiful lady who used to be a dancer (and apparently a prostitute according to Charlie Rakes) in Chicago.

The real shame is that the character of Floyd Banner who helps the Bondurant family as a fellow bootlegger and criminal was not developed, his role could have been cut from the film without much explanation but there was a lot of room for an interesting side story to be told. His actions seemed to be hastily explained with a couple of lines in the script which was a real shame.

Special Agent Charlie Rakes (Guy Pearce)

At times it was difficult to root for the three brothers as they battle the law and other thugs mostly with violence from the drunken brother Howard, it's only that Guy Pearce's character is so utterly despicable that you feel yourself siding with the Bondurant's. Some of the violence is a bit gratuitous especially a scene when a man has his testicles removed with a knife but isn't as excessive as other reviews will lead you to believe. This aside it's a well-acted and intriguing enough plot to be worth seeing.

2.5/4 bloody yet flawed epic with many impressive acting performances.