Movie Review: Lawless

The three Bondurant brothers, Forrest (Tom Hardy), Howard (Jason Clarke), and Jack (Shia LaBeouf) run a bootlegging operation during the depression, up in the mountains of Franklin County, Virginia. They sell to everyone in need, including the law, and in turn are left alone to tend to their business. But soon enough, Special Deputy Charlie Rakes (played by Guy Pearce), shows up wanting a share of the moonshining profits, at risk to the brothers of exposing their business. Forrest is attacked in the escalating tension, almost losing his life in the process. He then hires Maggie Beauford (Jessica Chastain), to help run the house and bar that the brothers own. Jack then meets local mobster Floyd Banner (Gary Oldman) shooting a competitor in town, and they soon start a business venture to help deal with the increasing meddling of Rakes. The Bondurant brothers finally take matters into their own hand after Rakes kills their friend and partner Cricket, which finally leads to a climactic shootout where justice is dealt rightfully so. 

To me, this remains one of the most underrated films of the years. It boasted one of the greatest casts of the year, the standouts to me being the usual powerhouse performance of Tom Hardy as Forrest and the incredible turn of Guy Pearce playing Charlie Rakes. Shia LaBeouf also does very well, finally shedding his "good boy" image made through his role in previous projects such as Even Stevens and Transformers. Jessica Chastain is also beautiful as always, and the master Gary Oldman has a good albeit short role as Floyd Banner. The story, based of the non-fiction book "The Wettest County in the World," was well adapted from the source material, keeping all the fascinating parts of the moonshining business with extra bits of violence and action. The look of the film matched that of the depression/prohibition era, with the characters being well-dressed to fit their individual roles. Overall, this was a great movie, filled with good performances by an all-star cast, and enough action mixed with story to keep the audience entertained for the whole movie. One of the most underrated movies of the year. 

Rating: A-