Film Review: Lawless

If you didn't catch the last effort that the partnership of screenwriter/musician Nick Cave and director John Hillcoat, 2005's The Proposition, rent/download/buy it RIGHT NOW.  Then report back.

I'll know if you didn't see it. 

Phew, now that you're versed in the violent western stylistic genre that Hillcoat/Cave bring to life, we can discuss Lawless.

I could give you a plot synopsis and origins of the movie (stolen from Wikipedia and IMDB) but I think you're better than that. And I think I'm better than that. You can find those details anywhere.


What you can't get anywhere, is Tom Hardy in a cardigan.

Is that a gun in your pocket or are you just happy to see me? Oh, just a gun? Right...

The styling in this movie was quite unusual, and I found myself obsessing over it while enjoying the tale of three gritty moonshiners. You aren't supposed to judge a book by its cover, but the image of a character can be as important as the words they're saying.

For starters, Guy Pearce as the bad guy. Bad guys are usually big, and tough and...

...dressed like a complete dandy while sipping tea on the deck.

The odd thing is, Pearce's OCD, snappily dressed law enforcer character was menacing. Anyone with the steady hand to shave themselves a part like that clearly has mental health issues. Although he wasn't as big as the three brothers, or dressed in gritty attire with a three-day growth and spitting tobacco like the rest of the town he was so creepy you just know you wouldn't want to run into him in a dark alley, or even a well-lit supermarket aisle surrounded by people. Whipping out that hanky to wipe his brow wouldn't seem like a terribly masculine habit, but the disgust that any kind of dirtiness evoked in him rang warning bells that this was a man that could not be trusted. An interesting idea about image and how the character beneath it is more than their looks.

Shia LeBeouf I have never taken seriously.

A-list actor or poor college student?



  But check out the hair in Lawless:




Excuse me ma'am, have you got any strong hold hair spray I can borrow?

That is one slick haircut. Greased back all  nice and smooth like. But does it look familiar?

Hey Shia!

Erghh. I'm so not talking to Miley since she copied my 'do.

Aside from cardigans and undercuts (the current hipster uniform of choice) there is an awful lot of violence. And while I was mildly disgusted, I found myself thinking that it wasn't as violent as it could have been. Being a Gen Y, movies have maybe robbed violence of its ability to frighten me, having been exposed to it so regularly. But violence played a part in this film. It was part of the business back then, as it still is now amongst organised crime (or so The Wire and The Sopranos tell me) so it was never gratuitous, even if it was confronting.

In summary, I really liked Lawless. Beautiful scenery, Tom Hardy, awesome score (provided by the always brilliant Cave and his partner in crime Warren Ellis) and dirty story about crime in historical America.

However, I think what I like about the film was how it looked and sounded. The story was a little predictable and the ending maybe a little too cliched. But it was a well acted exercise, especially with Hardy as ringleader Forrest and Pearce as the truly revolting law enforcer. I wasn't sure about LeBeouf going into the cinema, and coming out I think I was only slightly more convinced. I expected more from Lawless, but in comparison to the previews for the new Judge Dredd movie which made me laugh out loud, it's a solid piece of cinema that will take you back into a much-romanticised era in American history.