"Hell or High Water" Review

Hell or High Water is a crime drama film directed by David Mackenzie, written by Taylor Sheridan (screenwriter of last year's Sicario), and starring Chris Pine, Ben Foster, Jeff Bridges, and Gil Birmingham. Pine and Foster play brothers living in west Texas who are on the brink of losing the family farm to the big banks. In an act of both desperation and revenge (depending on which of them you ask), the two resort to robbing various small-town banks around Texas and Oklahoma, Pine's character hoping to funnel it into a trust for his nephews, and Foster's character planning to blow it on casinos, booze, and hookers like a real man. Jeff Bridges and Gil Birmingham play a Texas sheriff and his accomplice, respectively, on the trail but always one step behind the two crooks in this modern pseudo-Western.

Between this, Sicario, and his work on the show Sons of Anarchy, Taylor Sheridan has a real interest and knack for writing modern-day crime. His greatest talent as well as his flaw as a screenwriter is that he is a pitch perfect scribe when it comes to observing and relaying said observations about modern America, but not so much at brilliantly expanding on them or offering any groundbreaking wisdom on them thematically. This film was described to me as a "dumbed down No Country for Old Men", which is fairly apt, if a little harsh. The movie isn't quite "dumb", just straightforward. Sheridan's presentations of post-financial crisis middle America, the casual racism of the South, and the general attitude of distrust and violence borne out of the country's most cinematically ignored regions is spot-on in terms of dialogue and performance, but the viewer is left with simple musings and exhibitions rather than meditations. It's a minor complaint - Sheridan is great, but has room to be brilliant.

And this is not at all to say that this is a mediocre script. What Sheridan may arguably lack in a Coen-level grasp of screenwriting language he makes up for with some very strong character writing and a grasp on how to build a tense, concise, and entertaining story. While still dark in its own right, this film is a great deal funnier and looser than Sicario, and with a great director like Denis Villeneuve may have even surpassed it. Mackenzie, though, does a very good job at striking a balance between moving the story along and letting it sit a while to resonate with viewers. While this movie starts with a bank robbery scene, it's not mindless gunplay and car chases from beginning to end. The film allows us to get to know our characters and build the tension so that its explosively violent conclusion is all the more dramatic.

That is really this film's high point - the characters and performances. Ben Foster aims to steal the show as a belligerent, borderline psychopathic man of action, and he is a great deal of fun to watch, but Chris Pine upstages him particularly in the second half. Pine's performance is one of surprising reservation and subtlety, and by the end he is one of the most gripping actors to watch onscreen. Jeff Bridges gives his best performance in several years, as well as delivering the vast majority of the comic relief. His relationship with his accomplice, played wonderfully by Gil Birmingham, was my favorite character dynamic in the film. It feels like a real friendship, albeit a troubled one that makes for some great drama in the last third of the film.

Ultimately, the dynamics between the two criminals, specifically Pine, and Bridges's sheriff character is what drives the thematic crux of the movie. Two men acting against a system they believe - with some good reason - has wronged them, and a sheriff who tells us before we justify too many of their actions, to remember that they're not saints or above the law. Both characters' worldviews are simplistic and biased, and it's what makes their characters interesting. And the characters' interactions with the various townsfolk who agree with our protagonists' lawlessness to varying degrees is, as I said before, while maybe lacking in significant subtext, note-perfect in execution. And when I think about it, though this is a rather timeless story structured like any good crime thriller, this movie is very much written for the now. In the political climate it was made for, those simple musings and on-their-face presentations of middle America may be all there needs to be to strike up conversation.

Overall, Hell or High Water is a smart, incredibly well-acted, and very entertaining crime thriller that, like Sicario, was just short of being really great. If you enjoy your violent crime dramas with some slow-burning tension and lots of character development as well as ample gunfights and manly talk, then it's a good time at the movies. And Jeff Bridges makes the second half very memorable - the climax alone is worth the price of admission.

Grade: A-