Lawless comes up with less

Lawless has a lot of good things going for it, including many elements I generally like, but I wasn’t really able to get into it.

The film was adapted from Matt Bondurant’s novel The Wettest County in the World, which is based on the experiences of his grandfather and great uncles during prohibition.

Set in Franklin County, Va., Lawless tells the story of the three Bondurant brothers – Jack, Forest and Howard – whose talent for brutal violence and reputation for invincibility allows them to make a good living distilling and selling moonshine.

Forest Bondurant (Tom Hardy), the oldest brother, carefully cultivates his family’s aura of intimidation and mystery, ably assisted by middle brother Howard’s (Jason Clark) wild and violent behavior.

That leaves Jack (Shia LaBeouf), who longs to take a more active role in the moonshine business but, according to his brothers, lacks “grit,” and is sidelined to sweeping the family’s bar and driving the truck during deliveries.

The Bondurants’ world is thrown into turmoil, however, when sadistic Special Agent Charlie Rakes (Guy Pearce) comes to town and starts demanding a share of the Bondurants’ profits.

The Bondurants refuse to give into Rakes’ demands and soon a war begins to brew, along with the opportunity Jack has been looking for to prove himself.

Legendary musician Nick Cave wrote the screenplay for Lawless in addition to co-writing the score with fellow Australian musician Warren Ellis, and the music is one of the best parts about this film. Featuring the work of Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson and Cave himself, the soundtrack is atmospheric perfection.

Lawless also contains some very strong performances. In particular, Hardy is a soft-spoken, mysterious force of nature as Forest Bondurant, while Pearce radiates evil as savage dandy Charlie Rakes. Hardy and Pearce steal every scene they are in, but Jessica Chastain as Bondurant bartender Maggie Beauford, Gary Oldman as gangster Floyd Banner and Dane DeHaan as Jack’s best friend, Cricket Pane, are all excellent as well.

Lawless is also notable for a number of scenes of truly gut-wrenching tension, certain to make all but the most steely-nerved audience members squirm in their seats.

Yet, for all of its good qualities, the movie falls flat.

The main problem with Lawless is the story itself, which features very little character development.

This problem is epitomized in Jack’s storyline, to which the movie devotes most of its time. Jack’s journey from big-for-his-britches kid to big shot bootlegger is a classic one but, in the end, the change seems more like a difference of packaging than substance. From his obsession with violence (yet reluctance to commit it) to his boastful nature to his youthful enthusiasm, Jack is pretty much the same person at the beginning of the movie as he is at the end.

Then there are the stakes themselves.

While we root for the Bondurants because they are interesting protagonists, there isn’t really much that is intrinsically compelling about their fight to sell moonshine without paying protection money.

This leaves the narrative palate for Lawless remarkably bland, especially given its flavorful subject matter.

The movie does have many things going for it, and if you’re interested in seeing a gangster movie that marries brutal violence with strong performances, then Lawless is your film.

But, if you are looking for a movie that adds some real dramatic stakes to the mix, you should probably look elsewhere.

Posted by Bera B. Dunau on September 6, 2012. Filed under Arts and Entertainment,Columns,Movie Reviews,Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry