Lawless

My Grade:  B+

I don’t like period pictures (movies set in the past) and I don’t like westerns.  But I do like Tom Hardy, Shia LaBeouf, and Gary Oldman.  So I decided I needed to see Lawless and, now, I like Guy Pierce as well.  This film is incredibly well-acted and is quite exciting at times but is a little awkwardly paced.

Everyone knows that Gary Oldman can act.  People are starting to find out that Tom Hardy can act.  And The Help showed everyone that Jessica Chastain can act.  The big question mark for me before seeing this film was whether Shia LaBeouf could hang in a drama.  I’m happy to say that he can.  He was actually given a lot of the emotional meat and potatoes of this script and he handles it with the ease of a veteran Oscar winner… even though he’s never been nominated for an Oscar or a Golden Globe.  He might now, though.

The best performance, however, is from Guy Pierce.  I never really thought of Guy Pierce as some great actor but, thinking back to Christopher Nolan’s Memento, I should’ve realized that he is pretty solid.  In Lawless, his turn as Charlie Rakes is equal parts terrifying and captivating.  Even though he is doing horrific things, you can’t look away.  He also has quirks that make him stand apart from the southern guys that he deals with, but those quirks make him beyond memorable.  And, did I mention that he is terrifying?  Because he is.

One problem I have is that the pacing speeds up and slows down a lot.  Sometimes this is good… as long as you don’t notice it as a viewer.  I notice it.  There are long segments of dialogue-heavy scenes that could have been broken up by some action.  There is plenty of action, though, but too much exposition in big chunks.  I bet you can guess my next problem… and you’re right; it’s too long.  At almost 2 hours, it doesn’t sound like that would be too long for this kind of film but, as you watch, you realize that it drags on a bit.  It especially continues too long after the climactic showdown.

Other issues include the unrealistic nature of some of the things that happen and how little we see of Gary Oldman.  If a film is based on a book that is based on a true story, the film should be believable.  A couple of things didn’t make sense to me but, to avoid any spoiler alerts, I will let you see it to decide if you agree.  Also, I wanted more Gary Oldman.  His character doesn’t really serve much of a purpose in the overall narrative.  His portion turns into a B-story that doesn’t intersect with the a-story very much.  That makes it a bad b-story, in case you were wondering.

Overall, the film is entertaining and a study in acting.  Everyone is wonderful and I could see Oscar nominations in the future for Shia LaBeouf and Guy Pierce.  The pacing is a little off making it seem like Lawless can’t decide whether it is an action film or a drama film.  Either way, it is worth a watch, but I probably won’t be buying it.