Review by Bob Ignizio
LAWLESS
tells the more or less true story of prohibition era moonshiners
the Bondurant brothers: Forrest (Tom Hardy), Howard (Jason Clarke),
and Jack (Shia LeBouf). They're hardly the only ones in Franklin
County, Virginia making and selling bootleg liquor, but they are the
only ones who refuse to give a cut of their profits to the new
Attorney General and his lackey, Special Deputy Charlie Rakes (Guy
Pearce). It doesn't take long for the feud between the two factions
to turn violent, and Forrest winds up with his throat cut. Don't
worry, he gets better.
Given
the larger than life nature of these characters, it's hard for the
film not to glamorize them. However, as was the case in THE
PROPOSITION, director John
Hillcoat's previous collaboration with screenwriter/composer Nick
Cave, the violence these men do is presented in ugly, unflinching
detail that makes it difficult to view anyone in the film as a hero.
That said, this is nowhere near as bleak a film as THE
PROPOSITION. In between
throat-cuttings, castrations, and machine gun assassinations, LAWLESS
actually has a considerable amount of humor. There's even a little
romance, with Chicago expatriate Maggie (Jessica Chastain) doing her
best to get the attention of the clueless Forrest. Meanwhile, Jack
takes on the seemingly futile pursuit of courting Mennonite
preacher's daughter Bertha (Mia Wasikowska).
