lawless 2012 movie review

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"Lawless" is a well-made film about ignorant and violent people. Like the recent " Killer Joe ," I can only admire this film's craftsmanship and acting, and regret its failure to rise above them. Its characters live by a barbaric code that countenances murder. They live or die in a relentless hail of gunfire. It's not so much that the movie is too long, as that too many people must be killed before it can end.

I don't require movies to be about good people, and I don't reject screen violence. The Australian director of "Lawless," John Hillcoat , made a film named " The Proposition " (2006) that was also about a band of brothers up against a ruthless lawman, and it was one of the best films of that year. Based loosely on fact, it was written by the musician Nick Cave , and perhaps that's why both men were hired to make "Lawless," based on a war between Virginia moonshiners and lawmen. Whatever inspired "The Proposition" is lacking here, however; the characters seem less driven than propelled by a script, and the most villainous is so far over the top, he upstages himself.

We meet the three Bondurant brothers in Franklin County, Va., during the Prohibition. They make excellent moonshine and defend their turf without compromise. Into their backwoods domain ventures Special Agent Charley Rakes ( Guy Pearce ), a fed from Chicago. He works with the none too enthusiastic local sheriff's department to do — what? Shut them down? Take them over? Kill them all?

This Charley Rakes, he's a piece of work. Here in the deep woods, he sticks out like a riverboat gambler. He's meticulously well-dressed, parts and slicks back his hair like Valentino, and uses so much cologne, he can't sneak up on anyone. He may be the first man in the history of Franklin County to wear dress gloves in the daytime. Pearce creates a detailed, foppish performance, adorning a sadistic personality. Charley is such a snake he deserves to be shot just on principle. One of the movie's mysteries is how he survives for so long.

The three brothers run a combination shop, restaurant and gas station in the backwoods, where as I recall, we never see a customer. It's their center of moonshine operations. The oldest brother is Forrest Bondurant ( Tom Hardy , Bane in " The Dark Knight Rises "). Brother Howard ( Jason Clarke ) is the most feared in the family. Kid brother Jack (Shia LaBeouf) feels he has never really proved himself to the others, but the movie provides him with the opportunity. What kind of a man is Forrest? When his throat is slit open, he holds the edges of the wound together and sets out to walk through the snow to the hospital.

Drawn to this remote place is a mysterious woman named Maggie ( Jessica Chastain ) from Chicago, who was a dancer but wanted to move to a more peaceful place. She becomes a waitress, bookkeeper, business manager and Forrest's girlfriend. Young Jack spies an angelic beauty named Bertha ( Mia Wasikowska ) in church. It's not that he's a churchgoer; he was looking for her. They become sweethearts. The other local character of note is Cricket Pate ( Dane DeHaan ), a harmless, half-witted innocent who of course is destined to die horribly.

After assorted deaths, a war seems inevitable. What may strike you as surprising is the film's climactic battle. On a road near town, the two sides essentially line up their cars opposite each other and start shooting. They have that strange illusion of invulnerability born of hate and guns in their hands, and blast away in full view until those required to die do so, and the others survive.

By that point, I'd seen enough death and bloodshed. I'd also lost interest in the characters: the insane dandy, the violent brothers and even both women, who appear because you need some women around, I suppose. "Lawless" takes pains to inform us it's based on a true story, and indeed the script is based on a book by Matt Bondurant , whose grandfather was Jack. I believe it's based on facts. I wish it were based on insights. The movie's publicity tells us: "Brazen and fearless, these young rebel brothers helped build the American Dream." I don't even want to think about that.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film credits.

Lawless (2012)

Rated R for strong grisly violence and language

115 minutes

Shia LaBeouf as Jack

Tom Hardy as Forrest

Jason Clarke as Howard

Guy Pearce as Charlie

Jessica Chastain as Maggie

Gary Oldman as Floyd

Directed by

• John Hillcoat

Based on the book by

• Matt Bondurant

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Lawless – review

J ohn Hillcoat's new film is closer in spirit to his outback western, The Proposition, than the more recent post-apocalyptic drama The Road. Lawless is based on the avowedly true story of the badass Bondurant brothers in prohibition-era Virginia, running illicit liquor and fighting battles with corrupt cops. It is a handsome-looking period picture with a reasonably winning lead performance from Shia LaBeouf . But it's basically an empty exercise in macho-sentimental violence in which we are expected to root for the good ol' boys, as they mumble, shoot, punch and stab. The final flurry of self-adoring nostalgia is borderline-nauseating.

Tom Hardy plays Forrest Bondurant, violent, impassive – though with a weakness for knitwear. Jason Clarke is Howard, the more obviously crazy hillbilly brother. Then there is nervy, quick-witted young Jack Bondurant, nicely played by LaBeouf, eager to prove himself. Their new riches inflame crooked federal agent Charlie Rakes, played by Guy Pearce – a pantomime baddie who wears swishy cologne. Meanwhile, Forrest and Jack somehow manage to attract the admiration of two beautiful women, played by Jessica Chastain and Mia Wasikowska, who shimmer onto the screen turned out as if for a Vogue fashion shoot. The violence is gruesome, and perpetual, but the whole thing leaves nothing behind but a moonshine hangover.

• Period and historical films
• Shia LaBeouf
• Jessica Chastain
• Crime films

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Lawless Reviews

The percentage of elevated violence impregnates and propels almost every facet of the protagonists' life. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Apr 12, 2023

There isn't much dimension to these proceedings and not an inkling of greater meaning beyond the story at hand, but it’s such a well-made picture that one can hardly protest.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 3, 2022

“Lawless” is a tough, bloody, and violent action picture that’s very honest in what it’s trying to be. The story is simple and nothing will catch you by surprise. But it’s also compelling and the characters are easy to invest in.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 23, 2022

There are simply too many characters.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Sep 18, 2021

This graphically bloody film forgets to develop a memorable story.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/10 | Dec 2, 2020

With so many talented people at work, this should have been a much better film.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Jul 30, 2020

On every level, it is impossible to turn away from the story unfolding onscreen. Emotionally and historically immersive, Lawless is close to flawless.

Full Review | Nov 27, 2019

While this movie doesn't reach the heights of those films, it is better than most dramatic action films you'd see.

Full Review | Jul 30, 2019

The cast, while impressive, does little with what they have.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/10 | Jul 2, 2019

When Hardy and the rest of the adults are allowed to do the heavy lifting, "Lawless" is a kind of fun period piece. But every time LeBeouf takes center stage, it feels more like someone playing dress up.

Full Review | Original Score: C | Apr 11, 2019

Lawless is basically a tale of Badass Vs. Badass, with some additional Badasses thrown in for good measure.

Full Review | Mar 4, 2019

Complex, horrifying, pitch-perfect and exceedingly well acted, it's the near-brilliant film you never expected at the end of summer.

Full Review | Feb 27, 2019

Lawless wants to be something larger than life, but it's too joyless to be a tall tale and too self-satisfied for tragedy.

Full Review | Feb 22, 2019

The average script ensures that the film is memorable only for its remarkably poor representations of women.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 2, 2019

Overall, Lawless is good. It looks and feels right, and a balance of grit and fun that makes us appreciate the filmic tradition being celebrated here, as well as Lawless itself.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Jan 31, 2019

Not quite as great as Hillcoat & Cave's previous collaborations, but still a strong analyzation of damaged and violent men.

Full Review | Jan 19, 2019

The genre of the Western is nearly as old as the medium itself... Lawless shows there are plenty of ways to modernize the category while still showing it respect.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Dec 21, 2018

It's interesting, if not gripping. It's well-acted, if not brilliantly acted. It's beautiful, if not breathtaking.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Nov 2, 2018

The MVP of the film is most certainly Jessica Chastain.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 27, 2018

The recurring act of violence In 'Lawless' is a brass-knuckle punch to the throat. It's not pretty. The movie's not pretty either, but it's an instant gangster classic.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 29, 2016

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Movie Review

Moonshine County That Is Stirred, Not Shaken

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By A.O. Scott

• Aug. 28, 2012

John Hillcoat’s new movie, “Lawless” — written by Nick Cave — is based on a true-story novel called “The Wettest County in the World,” by Matt Bondurant. The area in question is Franklin County, Va., and in 1931, when most of the action in the film takes place, it was a bloody paradise of bootleggers. This picturesque corner of Appalachia has now provided a bonanza for dialect coaches and their charges, who set the hills alive with a symphony of dropped consonants and attenuated vowels almost as violent as the gunfire that periodically erupts.

At the center of the cacophony are the three Bondurant brothers, forebears of the author of “The Wettest County” and upholders of a stubborn mountain code of independence and honor. Forrest, the taciturn would-be patriarch, is played by Tom Hardy, who was born in London. Howard, his drunk and volatile enforcer, is played by the Australian actor Jason Clarke. The twitchy, weak-willed runt of the litter, Jack, is our own Shia LaBeouf.

Each actor takes a different approach to the demands of a tricky regional accent, which stretches the already thin credibility of the idea that they might be kin. Mr. Clarke does a bit of howling but not much chatting. Mr. LaBeouf, as is his custom, runs his mouth in as many directions as possible, while Mr. Hardy mostly grunts, growls and ribbits, occasionally interrupting his angry bullfrog impersonation to deliver down-home bromides that make him sound like Toby Keith choking on a Cheeto.

Not that the movie, a carnival of mayhem and period detail — visually suggesting Walker Evans, “Bonnie and Clyde,” “Miller’s Crossing” and “The Beverly Hillbillies” — exactly insists on realism. Nor, in spite of gruesome killings and boisterous car chases, does it hew to the conventions of the period gangster genre. It is, instead, a sprawling evocation of a vaguely rendered time and place, as crowded as an episode of “Hee Haw” and occasionally as much fun.

Life in Franklin County is brutal and complicated, especially when a Chicago lawman named Rakes (Guy Pearce), a sadist with slicked-down hair, chalk-striped suits and remarkable diction, starts to muscle in on the local moonshine action. When the Bondurants refuse to play by his rules — preferring to deal directly with a mob boss (Gary Oldman) — a nasty little war breaks out. Faces are pummeled; throats are cut; and shotguns, hunting knives and brass knuckles are put to grisly use.

To soften the mood a bit, there are inklings of romance (and flashes of bared skin) between Forrest and Maggie (Jessica Chastain), a redhead who shows up one day, in flight from the corruptions of the big city, to take a job pouring coffee in the cafe that serves as the Bondurants’ headquarters.

Jack, meanwhile, courts Bertha (Mia Wasikowska), the daughter of a local preacher. As he and his brothers expand their business — with the help of their frail young neighbor, Cricket (Dane DeHaan) — Jack develops a taste for flashy clothes and cars, affecting Cagneyesque mannerisms, even though he is not nearly as tough as Forrest or Howard.

And “Lawless” seems unsure of just how tough it wants to be, bouncing between rollicking backwoods humor and graphic violence, with a dollop of good-old-boys sentimentality thrown in for good measure. It has neither the stripped-down intensity of “The Proposition,” Mr. Hillcoat and Mr. Cave’s 2006 outback western, nor the lyrical austerity of “The Road,” Mr. Hillcoat’s not bad 2009 adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s postapocalyptic parable.

There are too many action-movie clichés without enough dramatic purpose, and interesting themes and anecdotes are scattered around without being fully explored. This is weak and cloudy moonshine: it doesn’t burn or intoxicate.

“Lawless” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). Swearin’, killin’, gittin’ nekkid.

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For Bootlegger Brothers, A Twisty Path To Profit

Stephanie Zacharek

Jack Bondurant (Shia LeBeouf) finds escape from the brutality of his family's bootlegging business in the company of the radiant Bertha (Mia Wasikowska). Richard Foreman Jr., SMPSP/The Weinstein Co. hide caption

• Director: John Hillcoat
• Genre: Crime, Drama
• Running Time: 115 minutes

Rated R for strong bloody violence, language and some sexuality/nudity

With: Shia LeBeouf, Tom Hardy, Jason Clarke, Guy Pearce, Jessica Chastain, Mia Wasikowska, Gary Oldman

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Note: Contains language some may find offensive.

'I'm From Chicago'

Credit: The Weinstein Company

'Survivors'

John Hillcoat's Lawless opens with a scene in which two farm boys urge their younger brother to pull the trigger on a pig that's ready to be transformed into bacon. The boy, whose name is Jack, hesitates and then misfires; one of the older boys finishes the job, neatly and dispassionately.

That scene tells you a lot about the character of Jack, played as a young grown-up by Shia LaBeouf, and it telegraphs a lot of information about the movie to follow — perhaps a bit too much. Lawless , which tells the almost-true story of a family of moonshiners in Prohibition-era Virginia, is both too obvious and not direct enough, and its shapelessness dilutes its power.

LaBeouf's Jack is the youngest of the Bondurant brothers, an entrepreneurial trio who survive tough times in the rural South of the 1920s by bootlegging. Howard (Jason Clarke) is the eldest, a mercurial, unreadable figure whose wartime experience has turned him into a loose cannon — he's the enforcer of the biz, knocking heads together whenever necessary.

Middle brother Forrest (Tom Hardy) is the brains and heart of the operation, level-headed and even-keeled, willing to take risks only when necessary.

Jack, the most timid and soft-hearted of the three, is also the most ambitious, and a chance encounter with hotshot gangster Floyd Banner (a minimally used Gary Oldman) only fuels his dreams. He longs for a life of nice clothes and fast cars, though he also has eyes for a meek local beauty named Bertha (Mia Wasikowska), a Mennonite type who cautiously returns his affections, despite the disapproval of her scowling, whiskery father.

An even bigger complication emerges in the form of Charlie Rakes (Guy Pearce, denuded of his eyebrows for no discernible reason), a special deputy who brings his own lawless ways to the county.

You'd have enough for a full-strength story right there, but Lawless — which was based on Matt Bondurant's novel The Wettest County in the World , a fictionalized account of his own family's moonshine-trafficking history — heads off in so many directions, and introduces so many characters in minor capacities, that it springs out of Hillcoat's control. (The script was written by Nick Cave, who also collaborated with the director on the 2005 Australian-Western The Proposition .)

Forrest Bondurant (Tom Hardy) is the most level-headed member of the family criminal enterprise. Richard Foreman Jr. SMPSP/The Weinstein Co. hide caption

Forrest Bondurant (Tom Hardy) is the most level-headed member of the family criminal enterprise.

Jessica Chastain breezes into town as Maggie, a Gal with a Secret and a suitcase full of peach-colored nighties, who's powerful enough to attract the interest of steadfast Forrest. There's also a minor subplot about a feud with another family that's so underdeveloped it raises more questions than it answers.

Hillcoat knows what to do with grim material: His adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's The Road had a surprising buoyancy to it, despite the depressive nature of the story. But Lawless needs a tighter grip on the reins. The picture's brutality is vivid and unapologetic — that's one of its strengths. And the austere, ghostly version of the Velvet Underground's "White Light/White Heat" that closes the picture — rendered a capella by Ralph Stanley — suggests an aura of brooding melancholy that the picture never quite achieves.

Even Pearce, who hasn't given a lousy performance in years (if ever), is somehow pushed off track here — as a swaggering bad-good guy, he goes beyond stylization into raw caricature. The one actor who emerges quietly triumphant from Lawless is Wasikowska. We all know Chastain is the "it" girl, but Wasikowska — a more translucent, understated presence — has the stealth factor in her favor. She's the kind of actress who opens up air around her, instead of just drawing oxygen for herself.

LaBeouf is a limited performer, but in his scenes with Wasikowska he springs to life: His face shows a kind of light that no one else brings out in him. In the movie's most transcendent moment, we see Bertha cradling a fawn no larger than a baby doll, a picture of innocence that might be comical if it weren't so heart-stoppingly radiant. Lawless is mostly about men, but a woman brings it to its knees.

Where to Watch

Tom Hardy (Forrest Bondurant) Shia LaBeouf (Jack Bondurant) Guy Pearce (Charley Rakes) Jason Clarke (Howard Bondurant) Jessica Chastain (Maggie Beaufort) Mia Wasikowska (Bertha Minnix) Dane DeHaan (Cricket Pate) Chris McGarry (Danny) Tim Tolin (Mason Wardell) Gary Oldman (Floyd Banner)

John Hillcoat

Set in Depression-era Franklin County, Virginia, a trio of bootlegging brothers are threatened by a new special deputy and other authorities angling for a cut of their profits.

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‘Lawless’ (2012) Movie Review

By Brad Brevet

“It is not the violence that sets a man apart. It’s the distance he’s prepared to go.”

These words ring out like a shot once uttered by Tom Hardy in John Hillcoat’s Lawless where he plays Forrest Bondurant, the designated “leader” of the Bondurant brothers as they set about their moon-shining business in Franklin County, Virginia in 1931. Joined by Howard (Jason Clarke) and the youngest of the bunch, Jack (Shia LaBeouf), the Bondurants eventually become the last of the true outlaw bootleggers and Lawless is the story of how they declined to bow to a corrupt law and maintained their own set of principles in their Prohibition-era activities.

Based on Matt Bondurant’s “The Wettest County in the World” telling the story of his grandfather and two granduncles, Lawless is a brutally violent story of bad guy against even badder guy. On one side are the Bondurant boys who, to this point, have been allowed to do as they please with their moon-shining business, but things begin to change once special deputy Charlie Rakes (played by the snarly and sinister Guy Pearce) comes on the scene, demanding payment and regulation. These are rules Forrest and his brothers aren’t ready to abide by even though the rest of the county bends under the pressure.

The question now becomes, if you’re going to stand up to the law just how far are you willing to go? This is the essence of the quote above and something of a religion Forrest Bondurant lives by and is attempting to instill in his younger brother Jack when he says it to him, though words aren’t Forrest’s preferred method of communication.

Forrest would much rather let his brass knuckles do his talking — breaking your nose or crushing your wind pipe. Make no mistake, Lawless is violent in many, many ways and this is just the start of the bloodshed as Rakes has his own amount of pain to dole out. To that point, the film is a rather straight-forward narrative, and while the press notes suggest Hillcoat and screenwriter Nick Cave (who also wrote Hillcoat’s 2005 feature The Proposition ) found some modern day parallels even so much as suggesting moon-shining draws some comparison to present day meth, I’m not entirely buying that.

Instead this is a simple portrait of a place in history where neither side was necessarily “right” in their actions. As stupid and ill-conceived as Prohibition was, it was the law and the violent reactions from the Bondurants were still unlawful. On the flip side, the government corruption and insidious nature of Charlie Rakes is equally unjust, and this leads to a couple of issues I did have with the film.

As great as Pearce is as Rakes, his character soon becomes so over-the-top it reaches some ridiculous levels to the point I felt like, “Okay, I get it, this guy is really, really, really bad. Got it.” From the minute we meet him his impish little laugh and slick back hair almost paints him as the devil in a dress suit. Opposite Forrest Bondurant, dressed in tattered old clothes that have probably never been washed, you have a clear cultural divide and yet they are both animals in a sense, though they are fighting for different things.

Hardy remains consistent in once again delivering a character you simply can’t get enough of. Out of all the reasons you may cheer for the Bondurants, one is to likely see Forrest safe through to the end if only to hear him grunt an affirmative one more time. Shia LaBeouf and Jason Clarke are also impressive as Forrest’s brothers. The story essentially follows LaBeouf as Jack and his desire for the finer things and his admiration for the big city gangsters such as Floyd Banner, played by Gary Oldman in only brief moments, but a quick wink to the camera is confirmation Oldman was the man for the job.

The leading ladies of the picture are played by Jessica Chastain and Mia Wasikowska. Chastain’s Maggie is running from the big city life where she was a dancer and winds up on the Bondurants’ doorstep looking for the quieter life. While she clearly went looking in the wrong place, she did find some much needed protection. Wasikowska’s Bertha Minnix is a preacher’s daughter that has caught Jack’s eye and while her father won’t hear of them being together that doesn’t stop the pursuit.

Shot entirely on digital, cinematographer Benoit Delhomme captures some excellent images with the Virginia mountains lending themselves well with lush spring greens, fall oranges, cold winter greys and hunched over trees providing a towering blanket of foliage in the midst of lush forested landscapes. And his camera never wavers from the violence on screen, some of it caught with brutal intensity as the loud wet thuds and gun shots ring throughout the theater.

As the violence wears on, only the film’s attempt for a climactic ending, deviating from the source material’s true conclusion, goes a bit against the film’s authentic nature up to that point. I would have preferred things were kept simple rather than the idea the ending needs to be something big to be appreciated. Otherwise, Lawless is a great film and its great to see Hillcoat back in territory more along the lines of The Proposition rather than his disappointing and somewhat empty adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road .

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What it's about.

Tom Hardy, Guy Pearce, Gary Oldman, Jessica Chastain, and Shia Laboeuf (the good Shia Laboeuf) all star in this true-story-based gangster tale. As a result, Lawless is cliché-free, fast, and violent - yet it doesn't take itself too seriously. Bootlegging Bondurant brothers live according to different rules, yet run a successful business during the prohibition era. When new authorities try to shut them down violently, each one of them has a way of dealing with it. The story runs very smoothly, and added to the perfect performances and great staging, Lawless becomes very entertaining, and a true pleasure to watch.

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Lawless (2012)

"We control the fear, you understand? Without the fear, we are all good as dead." Acclaimed director John Hillcoat (THE ROAD, THE PROPOSITION) delivers a thrillingly vivid slice of American outlaw history in his epic gangster tale, LAWLESS. LAWLESS is the true story of the infamous Bondurant Brothers: three bootlegging siblings who made a run for the American Dream in Prohibition-era Virginia. Based on author Matt Bondurant’s fictionalized account of his family, “The Wettest County in the World,” the film gathers an ensemble of gifted, dynamic new-generation stars – Shia LaBeouf, Tom Hardy, Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Mia Wasikowska, Dane DeHaan – alongside two of the finest actors of their generations, Guy Pearce and Gary Oldman. A riveting, intense story of crime and corruption, loyalty and love, brutality and tenderness, LAWLESS is a rich addition to the American gangster canon. In the mountains of Franklin County, Virginia, the Bondurant brothers are the stuff of legend. The eldest, Howard (Jason Clarke), managed to survive the carnage of the Great War, but he returned home unmoored by what he had seen and done. His brother Forrest (Tom Hardy) nearly died from the Spanish Flu that took his parents. He beat back death with a quiet strength and ferocious, visceral invincibility that came to define him. Jack (Shia LaBeouf) is the youngest sibling, impressionable, sensitive, smart. Times are tough and jobs are scarce, but the Bondurants are entrepreneurs and have built a thriving local business by concocting an intense and popular brand of moonshine. But Franklin County’s bootlegging days are about to end with the arrival of Special Deputy Charlie Rakes (Guy Pearce) from Chicago. The new “law” Rakes brings is lethal and corrupt and will challenge everything the brothers have built and represent. But while the rest of the county gives in to Rakes’ ruthless crackdown, the Bondurants will bow to no one. As the family rallies to fight Rakes, the fraternal dynamic shifts. Jack’s ambitions and enterprises alter the balance of power between the brothers as he careens into manhood. Dreaming of expensive suits, fast cars and beautiful women, Jack starts his own bootlegging operation, with his friend Cricket (Dane DeHaan) helping him to soup up cars and build stills – even against Forrest’s wishes. Jack starts to prosper, even selling his moonshine to Floyd Banner (Gary Oldman), the big city gangster he idolizes. The lives of the Bondurants are soon complicated by the appearance of two beautiful women: the exotic, steadfast Maggie (Jessica Chastain), who brings a secret past with her and catches the eye of the guarded Forrest - and the quiet, pious Bertha (Mia Wasikowska), who slowly warms to Jack’s charms and channels her own rebellious streak. Jack’s confidence however soon trumps his good sense, and the consequences will test the brothers’ loyalty and endangers them all. Determined to do whatever is necessary to fight for what is theirs, the Bondurants take up arms and confront the corrupt forces of the law in a faceoff to determine who controls the wettest county in the world.

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Lawless Review

Lawless has its moments with a top notch cast, but is not up to par with Hillcoat's previous work.

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Review: Lawless (2012)

Lawless (2012).

Directed by: John Hillcoat

Premise: Set during Prohibition, a group of Virginia bootleggers are threatened by a Chicago-based gangster attempting to take over the market.

What Works: Lawless is a John Hillcoat picture and those who have appreciated the director’s earlier films such as The Proposition and The Road will find Lawless to be rewarding viewing. The picture is beautifully shot and uses sound well, especially the original music by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis who provided music for John Hillcoat’s other feature films. Lawless is a violent picture, sometimes brutally so, but Hillcoat has a frank way of staging and photographing violence in ways that make the audience feel every single bullet wound or punch to the face; that makes Hillcoat’s pictures unique among filmmakers in that he combines the visceral qualities usually found in horror films with the gunplay of action movies and westerns. That combination makes the viewer dread the violence instead of look forward to it. Lawless features a cast of characters who are mostly poor and the filmmakers admirably treat these underclass characters as full-fledged people rather than the kind of poor white trash caricatures of a film like Deliverance . The film does this through contributions by a very talented cast. Tom Hardy plays a seemingly indestructible older brother among the bootleggers and Hardy is very good. His character mumbles through much of the movie and is outwardly stoic but Hardy effectively conveys the character’s emotions with subtle choices and despite the violence that his character is involved in many of his scenes are funny and even touching. Jessica Chastain plays the bartender at the bootlegger’s operation and although she is not given much to do, the actress finds ways to add a lot to her role that hints at the past trauma that the character has endured. Guy Pierce plays the lead villain and Pierce is frightening in a very restrained way. His perfectly coiffed hair and fashionable 1920s clothes contrast with the messy and earthy look of the rest of the cast and when he lashes out it is all the more upsetting because it evokes classist sympathies on the part of the audience. 

What Doesn’t: Lawless feels as though it is a cut down version of a much longer film as some of the subplots involving the supporting characters are incomplete. One of the bootleggers, played by Shia LaBeouf, establishes a business relationship with a gangster played by Gary Oldman but this relationship never comes to a meaningful fruition and the presence of Oldman, who is a high profile actor, makes the partial treatment of this subplot more noticeable. Also incomplete is the relationship between Shia LaBeouf’s character and a preacher’s daughter, played by Mia Wasikowska. Although Wasikowska is better in this film than she has been in many of her other roles the plotting of their courtship leaves out a lot of details, especially since it is clear that her father does not approve of LaBeouf’s character. Lawless opens with a prologue and closes with a coda and these sequences are disconnected from the rest of the film. They play on broader themes of life and death but those issues aren’t developed enough throughout the picture and the ending in particular feels tagged on. Also, viewers should be aware that Lawless is not the action shoot-‘em-up that the distributor has marketed it to be. That should not reflect poorly on the film but viewers should realize that Lawless is closer to Unforgiven than it is to Tombstone .

Bottom Line: Lawless may not be director John Hillcoat’s best film but it is consistent with his work so far, which is to say that it is impressively made and successfully reconfigures the western for a contemporary audience.  

Episode: #404 (September 9, 2012)

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Movie Review: Lawless (2012)

• Aaron Leggo
• Movie Reviews
• 10 responses
• --> September 12, 2012

Bootlegging brothers.

For a movie about moonshine makers, you’d think Lawless might have a bit of a kick. And maybe some flavor. But no, this poorly calculated picture is devoid of such pleasures, instead settling for a generic blandness. At best, it’s like eating a sock. You’ll be craving some of that bottled moonshine being passed around on screen just to give your taste buds something to do. There’s hardly a moment in Lawless that hits its mark, barely an idea that doesn’t feel doused in cliché. Lumbering from one scene to the next, the movie is a pacing nightmare and the plot feels carelessly strewn together with a bunch of simplistic characters locked in a basic battle shot with lazy indifference.

Those may be harsh criticisms, but with the talent in front of and behind the camera, Lawless really has no business being so bluntly bad. Director John Hillcoat continues his fall from the solid peak he reached with Aussie western “ The Proposition ,” a meaty effort he followed up with a misbegotten adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s poetic post-apocalypse tale “ The Road .” That movie had some decent imagery, but it struggled to realize the poetry of the material in an effective manner. Hillcoat again attempts to bring a poetic voice to the big screen with Lawless , but all we get is some uncomfortably intrusive narration by Shia LaBeouf.

Teaming again with Nick Cave, Hillcoat’s regular composer collaborator and sometimes screenwriter, too (Cave wrote the strong script for “The Proposition”), should at least reap some benefits, but the score isn’t all that interesting and Cave’s screenplay, adapted from Matt Bondurant’s non-fiction book “The Wettest County in the World,” is a sopping, sloppy slog. There’s no spark to the narrative here and no attempt to establish the situations with any imagination or even gusto. The plot is so stubbornly stuck on template-set tracks that it fears crashing and burning if it so much as puts one toe off the chosen path and into refreshing territory. Personally, I think the movie could have used a little more chaos.

It would be seemingly fitting, given the chaos that apparently punctuated the lives of bootlegging brothers Jack (LaBeouf), Forrest (Tom Hardy), and Howard (Jason Clarke), who kept liquor flowing during the prohibition era with their homemade stills stashed in the hills of Virginia. The brothers were pretty much above the law for a while, but early in the movie, conflict comes into play when greasy Chicago cop Charlie Rakes (a ridiculously reptilian Guy Pearce) rolls into the area and demands a piece of the moonshine pie. Forrest, a man of few words and many punches, turns Charlie down and therefore incurs the wrath of the laughable villain.

Lots of scenes follow where the brothers scrunch up their faces and stand their ground, while subplots involving love interests played by Mia Wasikowska and Jessica Chastain eventually show up and soon fall flat because the women have nothing to do but smile or stare longingly at their men. Their co-stars also struggle with badly written parts, though Hardy comes closest to achieving something memorable. His mumbling line deliveries and comical grunts are at least mildly interesting and the actor’s intimidating presence often plays a factor in scenes involving opposition. Clarke doesn’t fare too well and LaBeouf is just trying far too hard to be taken seriously. Pearce is a joke that only gets funnier as the movie progresses. He’s a wildly flailing punch line in his final scene.

Getting shot.

Dane DeHaan actually makes a fine switch from his angry supervillain role in early 2012 hit “ Chronicle ” to play an innocent pal of LaBeouf’s Jack and Gary Oldman fits nicely into a gangster role that’s woefully small, so a couple cast members do manage to get through this dreck with their dignity intact. But it’s not like any of the performances are particularly great. There’s a thin line between what works and what doesn’t here and the closeness of success and failure on the acting front can be traced back to the script and to Hillcoat’s direction.

That’s where the movie’s main problems lie. The story plods along as the three brothers argue and the occasional burst of violence is unleashed. After a while of really going nowhere, the movie lurches lazily when Cave and Hillcoat try to inject some energy by jamming a montage sequence into the proceedings. Yeah, that’ll liven things up! Once that lame dip into the cliché grab bag is exhausted, the movie mercifully lumbers toward a conclusion that’s all too predictable right down to the details. It’s not hard to guess where this is all headed right from the start, but it’s as though Hillcoat wants to ensure that the predictability touches every aspect of the finale.

Lawless is a blah mess. Despite talented actors on screen and a director/screenwriter team who have worked well together in the past, this tale of moonshiners and gangsters and crooked cops is a blasé bore. It wants to be an intimate portrait of the Bondurant brothers and their brutal experiences, but it’s too busy playing everything by the book and cutting away to make us hate the villain or swoon for some romance. Still, the brutality is certainly on display here: Forrest has enough near-death experiences to fill several movies, but thankfully they’re all contained in just one. When the violence hits, it’s ugly and rugged. The attempted authenticity is admirable. It just doesn’t count for much when so many characters are underwritten and the whole picture is shot and edited so obviously — a constant reminder of how bland and forgettable this movie is. Everything in Lawless is visible from a mile (or at least an hour) away. Ugh, what a waste, what a dull taste. Now where’s a good drink when you need one?

Tagged: bootlegger , gangster , novel adaptation

You and I both know the truth. You just don't admit it.

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'Movie Review: Lawless (2012)' have 10 comments

September 12, 2012 @ 1:19 pm Fonzi

Does Shia scream for Bumblebee? He’s always good for that!

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September 12, 2012 @ 1:35 pm tarheel

You’re on an island, Aaron. Most every other critic thought highly of this movie.

September 12, 2012 @ 2:11 pm Wallman

no punches are pulled with this one. surprisingly very gritty, very intense. i liked it.

September 12, 2012 @ 3:00 pm Sherbet

Hardy does lead the cast with the best performance but I’ve got to disagree with your take on the others. Pearce is downright creepy and LaBeouf does enough to make you forget he was in those Transformer movies. The travesty is the underuse of Gary Oldman. He makes a great gangster even though he’s in all of what, 5 or 6 scenes? ..

September 12, 2012 @ 3:32 pm Employee197384

A movie like this makes one feel good about having the luxury of a 9-5 office job.

September 12, 2012 @ 3:46 pm Moonstrife

I’ve got to say you’re a good wordsmith– if I hadn’t seen the movie prior to reading your review I wouldn’t have gone. As it stands, I’m glad I went because I disagree with most of what you’ve written.

September 12, 2012 @ 4:13 pm Greg

The best thing about Lawless is that is based on real people. Stuff like this really happened in your grandparents lifetime (especially if you’re below the Mason–Dixon Line)!

September 12, 2012 @ 4:44 pm Jack

Show me a movie thats doesn’t follow a standard formula. Any genre. You can’t – they all, in one fashion or another, follow a path blazed by another. Therefore your gripe about Lawless’s predictability and conformation to movie norms is moot.

September 12, 2012 @ 7:39 pm foodchuck

Intense from where I sat.

September 13, 2012 @ 12:17 pm dolomite11

Only complaint: the movie gets lost between fact and fiction while trying to tell a story with a cut and dry ending. Causes the pacing to wander more than it should.

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• Set in Depression-era Franklin County, Virginia, a trio of bootlegging brothers are threatened by a new special deputy and other authorities angling for a cut of their profits.
• In 1931, in Franklin County, Virginia, Forrest Bondurant is a legend as immortal after surviving the war. Together with his brothers Howard and the coward Jack, the Bondurant family has a distillery and bootlegging business. When the corrupt District Attorney Mason Wardell arrives in Franklin with the unscrupulous Special Deputy Charles Rakes, the Bondurant family refuses to pay the required bribe to the authorities. Rakes pursues the brothers and unsuccessfully tries to find their distillery. Meanwhile Forrest hires the waitress Maggie, a woman with a hidden past in Chicago, and they fall in love with each other. Jack courts the preacher's daughter Bertha Minnix and deals a great load of alcoholic liquor with the powerful gangster Floyd Banner. Jack shows off in Franklin attracting the attention of Rakes that finds the location of their distillery. When he kills the crippled Cricket Pete, the locals join forces to face the corrupt authorities. — Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• Three rebellious, bootlegging brothers find the elusive American Dream within their reach, and fight to maintain their grip as powerful urban gangsters reap the rewards of their hard work in this sprawling Great Depression-era crime drama from director John Hillcoat (The Road, The Proposition). At the height of Prohibition, ambitious country boy Jack Bondurant dreams of becoming "Public Enemy #1" while reaping all the benefits that go with the gangster lifestyle. By expanding his family's moon shining business, he plots to launch a vast criminal empire while winning the heart of beautiful Amish girl Bertha. With his older, intimidating brother Howard by his side, Jack has the brawn to get the job done, too. But they need a strong leader to guide them -- a responsibility that falls on their eldest sibling Forrest. Stoic and stalwart, Forrest is the kind of man who holds his cards close, and places a high value on character. Meanwhile, as the three siblings rise to power while battling treachery on both sides of the law, a mysterious woman named Maggie appears out of nowhere, prompting the thoughtful Forrest to question the true price of his outlaw ways.
• In 1931, the Bondurant brothers of Franklin County, Va., run a multipurpose backwoods establishment that hides their true business, bootlegging. Middle brother Forrest (Tom Hardy) is the brain of the operation; older Howard (Jason Clarke) is the brawn, and younger Jack (Shia LaBeouf), the lookout. Though the local police have taken bribes and left the brothers alone, a violent war erupts when a sadistic lawman (Guy Pearce) from Chicago arrives and tries to shut down the Bondurants operation. — krmanirethnam
• The three Bondurant brothers run a bootlegging operation during the depression, up in the mountains of Franklin County, Virginia. Crooked Special Deputy Charles Rakes is after a share of the brothers' profits. Compounding their troubles, the local competition is elbowing in on their activities. Forrest's boisterous defiance and Cricket's knack for moonshine production help the brothers gain a local monopoly. When Forrest is wounded as tension with Rakes escalates, Jack, initially the timid one, must prove his worth against gangster Floyd Banner's mob, and we see him metamorphose into a cocky exhibitionist in his attempts to woo the off-limits preacher's daughter, Bertha. — Anonymous
• During the Prohibition era, the Bondurant brothers -- Forrest (Tom Hardy), Howard (Jason Clarke) and Jack (Shia LaBeouf) -- run a successful liquor bootlegging business in Franklin County, Virginia, with the help of their friend, Cricket Pate (Dane DeHaan), using their bar as a front for their illegal activities. One day, Jack witnesses mobster Floyd Banner (Gary Oldman) eliminating a competitor and they exchange looks before Jack returns to the bar, where Forrest hires Maggie Beauford (Jessica Chastain), a dancer from Chicago, to be their new waitress. Shortly afterwards, the bar is visited by brutal Special Agent Charlie Rakes (Guy Pearce), on behalf of District Attorney Mason Wardell. Rakes informs Forrest that he wants a cut of all profit made by Franklin's bootleggers, but Forrest refuses and threatens to kill Rakes if he returns. Forrest later meets with the other bootleggers and convinces them to stand up to Rakes as well, though they eventually give in to Rakes' violent intimidation tactics. Meanwhile, Jack meets Bertha Minnix (Mia Wasikowska), daughter of the local preacher. He attends the church drunk and makes a fool of himself, causing Bertha's father to forbid her from seeing him, which only makes her more interested in Jack, with whom she flirts. Jack later finds Rakes raiding Cricket's house in search of his distilation equipment. When they don't find it, Rakes brutally beats Jack when he tries to intervene. Forrest hears of this and tells Jack that he needs to learn how to fight for himself. Forrest and Howard arrange to meet with potential clients from Chicago, but Howard misses his appointment to get drunk with a friend, and Forrest ends up beating the two men with Cricket's help when they harrass Maggie. Later, after Cricket leaves, the men return, slash Forrest's throat, and rape Maggie. Howard and Jack meet a surviving Forrest at the hospital, and Jack decides to travel to Chicago with Cricket to sell the liquor. Arriving there, they are doublecrossed by their clients, but are rescued by Banner, who recognizes Jack. Banner already knows of the attack on Forrest, as well as the identities of the two assailants, and he provides Jack with their address, and also advises Jack that they are working for Rakes. Forrest and Howard later find, torture, and kill the men to send a message to Rakes. Banner becomes a regular client of the brothers, who move their distilation equipment to the woods and have great profit. The money allows Jack to continue courting Bertha, while Forrest begins a relationship with Maggie after she moves into the bar for her safety, though she doesn't tell him she was raped. Jack eventually decides to show Bertha the distilation center, but they are ambushed by Rakes and his men, who had followed her. Howard incapacitates Rakes and Jack nearly kills him before they are forced to flee from Rakes's men with Bertha and Cricket, who is later recaptured and murdered by Rakes, who snaps his neck. Wanting revenge for Cricket's death, Jack goes to confront Rakes and his men at a roadblock in the local bridge. Howard follows after him, rallying the bootleggers to come to their aid. Forrest decides to join them, though Maggie tries to dissuade him, telling him that it was she who had found him with his throat slashed and took him to the hospital. Forrest realizes then that she was also attacked that night, but Maggie continues to deny having been raped. The bootleggers engage Rakes' men in a violent firefight, during which Rakes shoots Forrest multiple times before being shot in the leg and attempting to escape. A wounded Jack follows him to the bridge and shoots Rakes in the chest, wounding him. Howard later stabs Rakes with a large knife and leaves him to bleed to death. With Rakes and his men dead, the Bondurant Brothers decide to save their money and retire after Prohibition ends. Jack marries Bertha, Forrest marries Maggie, and Howard marries a local woman, all having children. During a reunion at Jack's house, Forrest drunkly dances on a frozen lake and falls into the freezing water, dying of pneumonia a few weeks later. from wikipedia.org

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Lawless (United States, 2012)

The niche occupied by Lawless is a precarious one. Too erudite for the average action/thriller-oriented moviegoer and too pulpy for the art house crowd, this intense, brutal drama may struggle to find an audience. A fictionalized account of the life of novelist Matt Bondurant's grandfather's struggles as a bootlegger in Prohibition-era Virginia, Lawless is a tense, engaging piece that finds time for moments of levity, darker comedy, and romance. It suffers from underdeveloped subplots and a moderate lack of focus during the final 30 minutes, but the experience as a whole is considerably above what one expects from a late August release. This is a well-made movie that deserves a higher profile than it is being accorded.

The strength of the cast assembled by Australian-born director John Hillcoat is eye-opening. This isn't a group of nobodies, has-beens, and never-will-bes. Shia LaBeouf, whose reputation as an actor was tarnished by appearances in a string of financially successful but creatively bankrupt films (three Transformers movies and the Indiana Jones chapter no one wants to remember ), reminds viewers why, at one time, he was highly regarded. Tom Hardy and Gary Oldman shot this film immediately before being reunited for The Dark Knight Rises . Jessica Chastain, in perhaps her sexiest role to date (complete with a topless scene), continues to defy typecasting. Throw in Guy Pearce at his oily, sadistic best and a sadly underused Mia Wasikowski, and you have the makings of a tremendous troupe. Nick Cave's script is (mostly) worthy of all that talent.

The story transpires during 1930 in a backwater town in Franklin County, Virginia. The Bondurant brothers, timid Jack (LaBeouf), quiet Forrest (Hardy), and maniac Howard (Jason Clarke), aren't the only bootleggers around, but they're the best and most respected. Their livelihood is threatened by the arrival of Charlie Rakes (Pearce), a "special deputy" from Chicago who has come to Virginia to stop those who violate the law of the land. What that means is that those who pay a fee are allowed to continue bootlegging while those who don't are shut down, often by the use of barbaric means. The Bondurants refuse to give in to Rakes and their stubbornness instigates a war.

As is often the case with Depression-era gangster movies, the lawbreakers are the protagonists and the lawmen are the villains. Lawless does not go out of its way to romanticize the Bondurants or their lifestyles. When it comes to bloodletting, they can be as vicious as their adversaries. Yet, as bad as they can be at times, Rakes is much worse. He's the kind of sleazy, vile bad guy that audiences fall in love with hating. This kind of role requires a little overplaying and Pearce knows just how far to take things to amplify the menace without turning the character into a cartoon.

Certain scenes are infused with an almost unbearable level of tension, especially once the tit-for-tat battles begin. Caught in the crossfire is Maggie Beauford (Chastain), an exotic dancer from Chicago who fled to Franklin County to escape the kind of violence in which she finds herself embroiled as Forrest's lover. Her story, like the others tangential to the main narrative, is short-changed by the demands of a sub-two hour running length. Jack's romance with a preacher's daughter (Wasikowski) is so skeletal that it generates almost nothing along in the nature of romantic tension. Likewise, Gary Oldman's part is little more than an extended cameo. The epic that is perhaps related in the novel The Wettest County in the World was trimmed a little too much on the way to the screen. We're left wishing for more.

The ending gives us what we want but in a roundabout way and there's a sense that things are drawn out too much on the way to that moment. For most of the film's two hours, it builds toward an inevitable climax but, when that arrives, there's something understated about how it unfolds. It's not as satisfying as it might be and the epilogue, although welcome, lasts a minute or two too long. Blemishes of this nature do little to reduce Lawless ' compulsive watchability. This is the kind of movie where it's tough to imagine taking a bathroom break. It uses top-notch acting, a strong screenplay, and plenty of sex and violence to hold even the most lazy viewer's attention. It's an adult story of the sort that is being pushed out of the theaters and onto cable TV in today's era of PG-13. With its period canvas and larger-than-life characters, Lawless deserves to be seen on a big screen. Its impact, like its images, may be reduced in a more intimate surrounding.

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Common sense media reviewers.

Outlaw brothers wage war in violent Prohibition drama.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

The only positive message is that brothers have on

They're dangerous outlaws, but the brothers are in

Lots of unflinchingly violent and bloody scenes. T

For most of the movie, there's little more than lo

Several uses of "f--k" and "s--t," plus "motherf--

This movie revolves around making moonshine during

Parents need to know that Lawless is a dark, history-based drama that's not age appropriate for younger viewers, even though teens of all ages might be drawn in by stars Tom Hardy and Shia LaBeouf. There's lots of intense, cringe-inducing violence (including bloody scenes of torture, references to rape, and…

Positive Messages

The only positive message is that brothers have one another's backs and should be there for each other unconditionally -- but the brothers here are murderous outlaws who do lots of terrible things, and the themes are dark and mature. Viewers will learn something about the history of Prohibition.

Positive Role Models

They're dangerous outlaws, but the brothers are incredibly loyal to each other, and Jack is very gentlemany toward Bertha, even though clearly his brothers wouldn't have cared if he'd tried to bed her. Despite her checkered past, Maggie is almost maternal toward Jack and takes care of the brothers. The "bad guys" are cops -- albeit ruthless, dirty ones.

Violence & Scariness

Lots of unflinchingly violent and bloody scenes. There's some gun violence (a couple of shoot outs), but most of the violence is up close and personal: brass knuckles tearing through skin, a knife slicing a man's throat, a young man's neck broken, a boot smashed on top of a head. Someone is tarred and feathered. Rape is implied but not shown (bruises are later evident). The Bondurant brothers are brutal and take offenses to their family seriously. Every major character is nearly killed, and there's a body count from all the cops-versus-moonshiners-versus-gangsters fighting. A frightened and young-looking woman sits naked on a menacing man's bed.

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Sex, Romance & Nudity

For most of the movie, there's little more than long gazes between two of the brothers and their respective love interests. But in the final act, one brother finally kisses the girl he fancies, while another brother has an interested woman walk into his bedroom naked (viewers see her topless and flashing a lot of skin, but not full frontal) and get on top of him.

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Several uses of "f--k" and "s--t," plus "motherf---er," "c--k," "damn," "hell," "goddamn," "ass," and "Jesus Christ" (as an exclamation). And, because of the time period the movie is set in, there are also racist insults like "cracker," "hick," "negro," "hillbilly," "inbreeds," "mountain boys," etc.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

This movie revolves around making moonshine during Prohibition, so naturally there's a whole lot of drinking (frequently to excess). Lack of inhibition due to drinking is a theme of the movie. And because it was en vogue at the time, almost everyone smokes cigarettes, too.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Lawless is a dark, history-based drama that's not age appropriate for younger viewers, even though teens of all ages might be drawn in by stars Tom Hardy and Shia LaBeouf . There's lots of intense, cringe-inducing violence (including bloody scenes of torture, references to rape, and much shooting and brawling) and two scenes of nudity (one is sexual and one is menacing), as well as frequent use of strong language (including "f--k," racial epithets, and more). The themes are mature as well -- the heroes are murderous outlaws and the villains are ruthless dirty cops -- making the story too heavy for most teens. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

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Community Reviews

• Parents say (4)
• Kids say (11)

Based on 4 parent reviews

Intense, Graphic, Gripping, and Mature 15+

Prohibition drama riddled with bullets and accents, what's the story.

Based on Matt Bondurant's historical novel The Wettest County in the World , LAWLESS follows the three Bondurant brothers (one of whom was the book author's grandfather), who live in the mountains of Franklin County, Virginia, making and distributing moonshine during Prohibition. There's a legend about the brothers being indestructible: The oldest, Howard ( Jason Clarke ), was the only soldier to return from his unit in the war, middle brother Forrest ( Tom Hardy ) survived a bout with the deadly Spanish Flu, and baby brother Jack ( Shia La Beouf ) wants to be a bigger player in the family business. But the brothers' luck runs out when Charlie Rakes ( Guy Pearce ), a knavish Chicago special agent, lands in town and warns the brothers to pay their due to the corrupt powers that be ... or get shut down. As expected, the brothers would rather do things their own way, even if that means a bloody feud with those they deem dishonorable.

Is It Any Good?

This is a gritty, fact-based drama. Australian director John Hillcoat ( The Road ) has emerged as a specialist in dark, violent stories that explore family relationships under extreme circumstances. Lawless incorporates the dysfunctional sibling relationships from Hillcoat's excellent but ultraviolent 2005 drama The Proposition , but with considerably more loving -- if unaffectionate -- brothers. And what a trio of brothers Hillcoat has cast: LaBeouf may be the top-billed star, but it's really Hardy's Forrest who's the brains of the Bondurant operation (Jack being the heart and Howard the all-too-eager hands). Since appearing in Inception , Hardy has quickly emerged as one of the most effectively intense actors working today, and he outacts LaBeouf despite saying very little (he grunts more than he speaks, and when he does speak, he's usually slurring a Southern drawl).

The women of the drama -- Mia Wasikowska as Bertha, the beautiful but religious girl Jack fancies, and Jessica Chastain as Maggie, a former city girl with an irresistible attraction to the quietly fierce Forrest -- are fantastic but among several underdeveloped characters. There are too many men and too much going on to give all of the subplots enough time to develop ( Gary Oldman pops up in a few memorable scenes, but then, poof, he's gone). Like in The Proposition , Lawless is a movie in which arguments are resolved with guns and fists, where the law can be evil (Pearce is practically perfect as the preening psychopath agent), and your blood and your name are ultimately what define you.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the way Lawless portrays alcohol and drinking . How did Prohibition affect the inhabitants of Franklin County? Does learning that this movie was based on real brothers make you want to learn more about them and the era of Prohibition?

There are no truly "good" and "bad" characters in this movie. Which characters are the most sympathetic? Does the story glorify criminality? Who are the heroes, and who are the villains?

How is the violence in this movie different than in action movies? Which has more impact, and why?

Movie Details

• In theaters : August 29, 2012
• On DVD or streaming : November 27, 2012
• Cast : Guy Pearce , Shia LaBeouf , Tom Hardy
• Director : John Hillcoat
• Studio : Weinstein Co.
• Genre : Drama
• Topics : Brothers and Sisters , History
• Run time : 115 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• MPAA explanation : strong, bloody violence, language and some sexuality/nudity
• Last updated : February 10, 2024

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