In 1931, brothers Forrest (Tom Hardy), Howard (Jason Clarke) and Jack Bondurant (Shia LaBeouf) are in the bootlegging business. In their Virginia Community, their business thrives thanks to the Cops who happily buy from them. One day, the evil Special Agent Charlie Rakes (Guy Pearce) comes to town. He demands that the brothers turn their business over to him, or else he'll send them up the river. The Brothers refuse, and that refusal leads to war.
And that's all you need to know about the plot.
Documented in the book The Wettest County in the World by Jack's grandson Matt, the story was screen-written by musician Nick Cave. It's a story that's slow to unfold, and liable to test many attention spans. Consequentially, a few plot points got lost in the shuffle. Fortunately, its most violent scenes were effective attention grabbers.
Amongst the performances, their are three that stand out. As Rakes, Guy Pearce did his job well, playing the snide villain one would wish dead at the end of his first scene. Gary Oldman, as a rival bootlegger, was the best underused character in all of his two scenes. And Tom Hardy, as Forrest, is the strong, silent type who is surprisingly very durable.
Also adding to the film are Benoit Delhomme's impressive photography, as well as the violent, forceful sound effects. The Music Score, composed by Cave and Warren Ellis, is one of the most memorable collection of country tunes on-screen. These are the aspects that are most liable to give their movie Oscar notice in a few months. And if they win, they'll be most deserving of the Awards.
While Lawless wants to be something great, it is instead something decent. Those wanting to view history unfold on-screen won't be disappointed. They just shouldn't expect to see much film history unfold on-screen.
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