"Lawless" (2012)

Lawless

Rated R (for strong bloody violence, language and some sexuality/nudity)

1 Hour 55 Minutes

Starring:

Shia LaBeouf

Tom Hardy

Guy Pearce

Jessica Chastain

Gary Oldman

Rotten Tomatoes Score:

65%

"Grim, bloody, and utterly flawed, Lawless doesn't quite achieve the epic status it strains for, but it's too beautifully filmed and powerfully acted to dismiss."

My Grade:

C-

I went into this movie without seeing a single advertisement for it, at least none that I could remember. While I love watching previews, sometimes I think it's fun to go into a movie with no preconceived thoughts on what to expect so that maybe you won't be all that disappointed. After seeing Lawless however, I kind of wished perhaps maybe I would have seen a preview or even a little TV spot for it, because I might have avoided it altogether.

Not to say this movie was horrible, but I've never been a huge fan of the western style of film. The only one I really love is the newest version of 3:10 to Yuma. You can maybe argue that Lawless isn't really a western, as it takes place in the 1920's prohibition era. But listen that all walk around like cowboys, spittin', and talking with that southern twang, so to me it all seemed to western. I apologize if you think different and I have bothered you for thinking this.

 

Lawless is based off a true story. Three brothers found themselves in the bootlegging business during prohibition and naturally all hell breaks loose for them. If you are going to make a historical moment in our time into a movie, at least chose an interesting story. To me, Lawless offered nothing that we haven't all seen before. Story wise, it didn't step up to the plate and deliver a home run. More like an infield single. While I'm on the baseball theme, this movie was like a 1-0 pitchers duel. It lacked of any true gritty excitement. The pacing was so dreadfully slow I almost thought nothing would ever actually happen in the movie. And almost nothing did if I'm being completely honest here.

The bootlegging aspect never seemed to fill up the story, it focused more on the family and the Shia LaBeouf character wanting to be "somebody" and that just didn't provide much heart. The characters were not all that fleshed out, they never really dug deep into this family. They made them a bit flat and one dimensional to the point where I really didn't care about any of them. This is no offense to the actual people the movie is based, I'm sure the film makers took a few liberties here.

 


And the performances did help any. I may be coming off a little to cynical here, and I'm sorry if I am. However, I cannot take LaBeouf seriously in these dramatic roles. He is by no means a horrible actor, but I just don't think he's cut out for anything more than being a sidekick to a bunch of robots, and I think he just needs to be running around a movie bumbling his words and screaming. Tom Hardy is a fine up and coming actor, but he honestly didn't have much to do here, even though he played the older brother, and leader of the pack. Between this and The Dark Knight Rises, I don't think I understood more than 15-20 words he spoke in either film. His accent was a little to thick, and I totally get he was playing a character here, but maybe ease up a bit. Guy Pearce was...a joke. I mean was the guy he was portraying really that theatrical and bizarre? Maybe, but dear God he was outlandish. And why did Gary Oldman even bother to agree to do this movie? They made it seem in the beginning that he was going to be a big part of the story...but he's in maybe 2 scenes in the entire film. That's it! Crazy!

The movie was shot very well however. It had some great set pieces, and beautiful cinematography. The action, while it was far and few between was done so quite entertainingly. There wasn't much of a musical score, but instead they pumped in a recorded song every 5 minutes or so. The movie seemed like a plug for a soundtrack or something.

For me, when I add up all the parts, I just did not dig Lawless. But hey, not every movie is going to be everyone's cup of tea. It just lacked in a lot of areas and didn't do anything new. If you want a better prohibition story, watch the HBO show "Boardwalk Empire", now that's awesome!