“Lawless” is based on a non-fiction book “The Wettest County in the World” by Matt Bondurant. The story takes place in prohibition era, where alcohol was illegal. The Bondurant Boys (Tom Hardy, Shia LaBeouf, Jason Clarke) and a mysterious woman (Jessica Chastain) run one of the most well known bootlegging businesses in Franklin County, Virgina. Their reputation is threaten when a corrupt special deputy (Guy Pierce) want a piece of their sales and is willing get it anyway he can. The Bondurant boys must find a way to stop the corrupt deputy, before he ruins their business.
Film Review:
Going into this film, I was expecting the film to have more action sequences. It wasn’t the case, as I didn’t realize until later that this film was based on a true story. I was surprised that I enjoyed this film as much I did given my expectations.
One of the reasons this film worked for me so well was John Hillcoat’s direction. I liked how, he was able to capture everything on the screen. From the time period to the way that he approaches each scene, Hillcoat does a very good job getting everything to work from a direction standpoint. It’s those things that helps make this film very entertaining. The other thing that I liked about his direction was that he’s able to get very good performances out of his main cast. I thought Shia Lebouf , Tom Hardy , Guy Pierce, Gary Oldman and Jessica Chastian worked very well together. Hillcoat does a very good job making their performances gel together. He does that, by making the sure the characters have personality. From the way the lines were delivered to the way the actors approached their characters, Hillcoat does a very good job making the characters and the story interesting.
The major difference between this film and Hillcoat’s last film “The Road” was the fact that rocker Nick Cave handles the screenplay duties like he did in Hillcoat’s 2005 film “The Proposition”. Cave does a very good job with the source material that he’s given. One of the things that I liked about his screenplay, he does a very good job making the characters interesting. Whether it’s giving the characters personality or developing them, Cave does a very good job bring them to life. It helped me enjoy this film a lot, considering I had different expectations. The other thing that the screenplay does well, it builds tension to the initial climax. The reason that it works, Cave does a very good job making you care about the characters. It made the scenes interesting and grabs your attention from a story standpoint.
The only that I didn’t like about this film was the fact that Gary Oldman didn’t have a bigger role, as he was very good as the mobster Floyd Banner. But still, I really enjoyed this film for the performances and John Hillcoat’s direction.
Blu-Ray Extras:
First on the Blu-Ray is the film’s audio commentary track, which features director John Hillcoat and Matt Bondurant, author of “The Wettest County in the World”. This was a very good commentary track. I liked how both of them go into the production of film and talk about how much of the film is based on the book. It gives you insight into both the film and what was done differently from the book. Overall, a very good commentary track.
After the audio commentary track, you have the film’s behind the scenes featurette “The True Story of the Wettest County in the World”. The featurette goes into the back-story of the film and features interviews from the cast and crew talking about the production of the film. This was good, as you get both some historical information about the subjects of the film and you get hear the cast talk about the film. It was an interesting featurette on both levels.
The next two featurette focuses on the historical information that this film is based on. Both of the featurettes do a very good job going to the history behind the film. The first featurette is “Franklin County, VA: Then and Now”. The featurette goes into the history of that time period in that area. It talks about the bootlegging of alcohol that took place in the town during the prohibition era and how the county is surviving today. The other historical featurette is “The Story of the Bondurant Family”. This goes in-depth into the Bondurant brothers, which is told by the book’s author Mark Bondurant. It gives a lot of information on the each of the brothers and relationships between them. It also features images of the Bondurant family, as they were during that time period.
After those featurettes, the disc wraps up with Willie Nelson’s “Midnight Run” music video and deleted scenes.
Final Summary:
“Lawless” is one of the best films that I’ve seen this year. With great direction from John Hillcoat and excellent performances from the cast, “Lawless” is one of those films that may end up on my top 10 list.
Review Rating: Five Stars
Blu-Ray Extras: Four Stars
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