Lawless Review

Violence rarely announces itself.  Matt Cave, as writer, and John Hillcoat, the director seemed to have taken that as a maxim as a truism.  "Lawless" is an examination in which violence both insinuates itself into the lives of people who, more-or-less, are just trying to get by, and the heartbreak it inevitably causes.  But its also a portrayal of the slippery slope of feuds and tragedy that masquerades as honor. 

On the surface, "Lawless" is the story of the three Bondurant boys of Georgia at the tail-end of Prohibition.  It's a story about bootlegging.  But only on the surface.  Because at its heart, "Lawless" is about legends and the ways in which we perpetuate and propagate our myths.  Juxtaposed within the story is the Bondurant patriarch, Forest (played moodily by Tom Hardy), whose legend is one of invincibility.  From the outset, we're told that he survived his troop ship sinking on the way to France, his platoon gassed around him, and throughout the movie, his deathlessness is put on display.  Set against him is the moonshine kingpin, Floyd Banner, played admirably by Gary Oldman.  The legend of Banner, styled along Capone-esque lines, is followed through newspaper clippings collected by Jack Bondurant (Shia LaBeouf). 

Violence arrives on their doorstep, in a drive-by shooting in which Floyd Banner screams into town and pumps a drum of lead into (we suppose) a rival, or perhaps a fed.  The ambiguity of the violence leaves the audience guessing about the purpose and the motivation of the killing, and much of the violence in the movie follows the same motif.  Only later, when the new Special Deputy (Guy Pierce) arrives, do we see a more personal kind of violence, as spates turn into murder and the Bondurant legend is tested. 

With rising tolls come the added lure of money, as Jack is seduced to run whiskey across the county line, something Forest has, if not forbidden, then actively discouraged.  But as Jack rubs his growing success under the nose of the Special Deputy (think an oilier version of The Untouchables) the tension rises as the town is forced to take sides against the Bondurant boys.

As I said, a quick and dirty summary of the movie boils down to the rise and fall of the Bondurant bootlegging empire.  As a piece of film, as well as a vehicle for story, it excels.  The acting is superb, especially Tom Hardy as Forest, the war-weary patriarch who can do more with a few grumbled invectives and a cardigan than most actors will do throughout their entire career.  Shia LaBeouf is a perennial favorite.  Guy Pierce makes for a slickly detestable villain, and Gary Oldman, though under-utilized, still captures the screen.