Lawless

If you like Boardwalk Empire, then just save yourself 2 hours of time and wait for the new season to start up because it is heads and shoulders above this movie. Lawless is also about bootlegging but it takes place in the hills and focuses on hillbillies. When I first saw the preview for it, it looked like The Newton Boys Part 2. It looked like what you say? Yes that was the forgettable western full of young stars at the time including Matthew McConaughey, Ethan Hawke, Skeet Ulrich (yes rat face, remember him?), and Vincent D'Onofrio. Now just because you put a bunch of good looking males in a western doesn't mean you do not have to have an interesting story to accompany it. Am I being a hypocrite? Yes. Because if you put Kate Beckinsdale, Emily Blunt, Natalie Portman, and Rosario Dawson (just for flavor) in a movie about the origin of the modern day book club then I'd be there opening weekend! But this is because I like women with accents, big boobs, and who star in vampire movies. Or some combination of the 3. By the way, I think they already made this movie and it was called Mona Lisa Smile.

So this movie stars the annoying Shia Ladouche from the Transformers franchise. The bad thing is, not only is he in it but they really focus on his character and his boring pursuit of Mia Wasikowska. The good part is that his character is a wimp and he gets his ass kicked on the regular in this movie. He is the youngest hillbilly brother that is trying to prove that he can be a part of the dangerous bootlegging game with his two older and protective brothers played by Tom Hardy and Jason Clarke. So basically he's like the annoying kids in 28 Weeks Later that despite all logic go into the city for some reason and start the zombie apocalypse all over again because kids are dumb and don't listen. Ladouche repeatedly does stupid things that his brothers have to bail him out of when honestly it'd just be better to serve him peroxide and mask it as moonshine to put him out of his misery.

Speaking of his brothers, Tom Hardy's character is by far the more interesting one as he is the quiet muscle of the three. They all look up to him and follow his lead but outside of a few random grunts and his strategic use of brass knuckles in fights, you really don't learn much about him. He does have this belief and this growing legend of him and his brothers being invincible. And the screenwriter has some fun with this with the aid of a few jokes; but you really end up wanting more. It does help that his love interest is Jessica Chastain who is wonderful in everything she does and she does give you a treat with a rather lengthy topless scene. That alone was worth the price of admission.

But sadly this movie is just boring. Guy Pearce overacts as the corrupt enforcement agent Charlie Rakes and there is not nearly enough Gary Oldman in it as he is only on screen for like 5 minutes. Had the director switched the roles of these two you would've actually been drawn into the story a bit more. Because Oldman would have properly brought out the weirdness and evil that surrounds Rakes and you might have actually rooted for the Bondurant Brothers as opposed to hoping they all die just so the movie would end. Plus who knows, Oldman might have channeled his coke head character from the Professional "Everyoooooooooone!! But Hillcoat (director) decides to throw Pearce a bone because of the work he did in the gritty Proposition and as a result his latest film suffers. Overall  I rate this movie as WEAK and suggest that if you are under the age of 55 that you skip it.