Lawless

Lawless is one of those movies that feels like it's trying to say something more important than it really is. It could have been better, but with Hardy and Pearce on board, it's plenty good enough.

Mia Wasikowska and Jessica Chastain both shine as the love interests for Jack and Forrest respectively, allowing those characters to have something beyond their business to be fighting for, with the skill of both performers allowing them to be more than just window dressing.

Lawless may be full of half-hearted overtures toward depth and emotional complexity, but the film's prestige sheen is mostly a sham; the real focus here is the irrepressible lure of bad behavior.

Lawless is very bloody - but the scenery and production design are a whole lot nicer.

Even the soundtrack is mostly on-the-nose jug-band hokum, except for one cue: a searing old-timey version of the Velvet Underground's "White Light/White Heat," courtesy of octogenarian bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley. If the rest of the movie had the same energy, spontaneity and soul, it would have been more potent than 190-proof hooch.

The narrative often seems at odds with the director's pictorialism, trudging when it should be striding toward the climax, isolating the performers on their marks when everything depends on taut blood-ties interconnection.

It's hard to make a movie about moonshiners that isn't entertaining, but the lethargic, generically titled Lawless comes perilously close - at least a third of its two hours is devoted to "arty'' shots of landscapes.

Ran across this movie last week. I have watched it at least 25 times now, read the book and did a little ancestry research. Phenomenal casting, soundtrack carries you to the period and the emotion of the time. Compelling cinematography captures the essences of the hard times people managed to thrive and survive. The movie captures the genuineness of the family bond and speaks to the nature and character of the men and women of the era. My Grandfather and his brother were bootleg drivers in Oklahoma/Arkansas/Louisiana. My Grandfather survived, his brother did not, killed while hall white-lighting, in a high speed chase. Have pictures of them, the stills they operated and their stories. This movie brought back a lot of memories, Love the movie, the acting, location, book, history.

Good film that has plenty of gore and some great performances from Shia and Tom Hardy. It's also got a villain that you really hate, which is always good. Romantic moments seemed a bit forced and pointless, but ultimately a good film in a setting that I really love.

I really like Jessica Chastain's character and then, the ending from Tom Hardy's character. Others were just too easy to learn. Even though the three brothers were very handsome and each has different characters *mostly I like the second brother ~wink* What makes me disappoint was the movie tried to make a conflict that the conflict was not really matter and cost the entire hours of this movie to explain it. I mean, the villains were amazing creepy but the reason to be a villain in this movie was just bitter. Great performance and great characters, but lack of plot.

If it weren't for the wonderful cinematography and brilliant acting from Guy Pearce this movie would be a complete flop. Bootlegging prohibition movies usually excite me, but the plot in this movie has no meaningful plot whatsoever, it's completely pointless, which does not warrant the excessive brutal gore violence included in this movie. It makes me sick thinking about the brutality that is so unwarranted in this movie. One of the worst movies I've seen in awhile.

An action that takes the levels of action way to high.