Lawless

Lawless is based on the novel The Wettest County in the World by Matt Bondurant, a descendant of one of the brothers in the film and is directed by John Hillcoat.  It is a film that hoped to break the mold for Shia LaBeouf.  Having started on the Disney channel and moved up to to star in some very successful films, most of his work up until now has been pretty family friendly.  Lawless tries to position LaBeouf as being capable of starring in films with darker and more adult themes.  So how did it turn out?  Well, probably the best thing about Lawless is that it’s success is not based on LaBeouf.

Lawless takes place in Franklin County, Virginia in the early 1930’s during the era of prohibition.  Enter the Bondurant brothers who are heavily involved in the moonshine business.  The story goes that while their parents were killed by the Spanish Flu, the three brothers are seemingly invincible.  Forrest Bondurant is played by Tom Hardy, Howard Bondurant is played by Jason Clarke, and Jack, the youngest Bondurant is played by Shia Labeouf.

The beginning of the film depicts the local law enforcement as perfectly willing to just let the moonshiners do what they want as long as they are able to purchase some of the moonshine.  With that understanding, it seems like everyone is living the good life with no major problems.  Then Charley Rakes, a special deputy played by Guy Pearce, gets sent to Franklin County from Chicago to clean things up.  Taking his mission seriously, he promptly visits the local moonshiners and demands that he gets a cut of the profits.  Well, in the words of Forrest, the Bondurant brothers “don’t lay down for nobody,” and he promptly lets Rakes know that if he comes back he better be ready to die.  The rest of the film centers on this conflict.

Tom Hardy definitely takes the spotlight.  He does a superb job playing the eldest brother and leader of the crew.  His calm demeanor exudes the confidence necessary to run such an operation.  Without Forrest Bondurant, the other brothers likely wouldn’t be noteworthy and without Tom Hardy this film likely wouldn’t be noteworthy.  Jason Clarke also did a fantastic job with Howard Bondurant and served as a nice contrast to Forrest.  Whereas Forrest is always serious and ready for business, Howard is less controlled and more prone to enjoy himself.  He’s definitely no slouch though as when business calls he often acts as the bruiser of the group.

Jessica Chastain plays Maggie Beauford, a former dancer from Chicago who comes down south for a change in lifestyle.  She played her role extremely well and was the perfect fit for the character.  Maggie Beauford made the move down south hoping for a slower pace of life amongst a different sort of people.  When she arrives in Franklin County she begins looking for work and gets hired by Forrest to work at the bar that the Bondurants use as a front for their moonshine business.  Well, that obviously wasn’t the wisest choice for someone looking for a slower pace of life.  Her allegiance to the Bondurants, and Forrest in particular, largely comes from an incident at the bar where Forrest learns that a patron had threatened her.  His southern hospitality comes to life and he promptly beats the offenders to a pulp with his trusty brass knuckles.  That scene proves to be a good example showing the Bondurants actually are respectful citizens of their community.  Yes, they are involved in illegal activities related to making alcohol but they are operating in a realm where everyone appreciates their service and they don’t create trouble.

The biggest problem with Shia LaBeouf’s character is that it is exactly the same character he plays in every single other film he’s been in: the young and annoying kid who is overeager to do what the grownups are doing.  I’m not saying it’s necessarily a bad character to play.  I actually think it works quite well in some of his other films.  It’s just that it’s beginning to get old and it would have been nice to see some new dimension.

The main issue with the film in general is the dynamic between special deputy Charley Rakes and how the plot unravels.  For films to be good there must be elements that take you by surprise  or unravel differently than expected.  It is this unpredictability that keeps you interested and glued to your chair.  Unfortunately, Lawless is largely predictable.  It’s pretty easy to map out what ends up happening and who ends up dying from pretty early in the movie.  In place of keeping the audience wondering what’s going to happen, the film relies on the shock factor of the gruesome crimes committed by Charley Rakes.  There’s a fine line between developing the villain into someone you will grow to hate, and developing the villain to disgust you in a way that you almost don’t want to keep watching.

The film should have ended a few minutes earlier than it did.  I can understand the idea of showing how everyone ends up down the road, but I don’t understand the need to draw this out and start getting into all sorts of unnecessary details that just serve as a distraction to the rest of the film.  It kind of reminded me of the end of True Grit (2010) where there is that unnecessary five minute sequence at the end of the film where the main character, as a middle-aged woman, randomly decides to search for Jeff Bridges’ character only to find out he’s already dead.

Lawless is definitely still a good film.  It’s exciting to watch.  The Bondurant brothers and Maggie Beauford are very interesting characters and you can’t help but sit there and hope things work out for them.  While there were definitely some flaws, it’s still worth watching as long as you can stomach Charley Rakes.