Lawless

A slice of family history that only works in its two hours of runtime when it scores points with good actors and brutal violence, but also forgets the characters. Hardy just grunts and LaBeouf builds an empire out of nothing; it’s got the same feelings as Proposition, copying from everywhere, but with a beautiful signature. (26/09/2012)

Three and a half stars. If the script had cared as much about the third (and equally interesting) brother as it did about Jack and Forrest, if Gary Oldman had been given more space, and if the incredibly slimy Guy Pearce hadn't been a simple comic-book caricature but rather a believable villain, it would have been even better. But the atmosphere is very pleasant and, thanks to the music, I am rounding up. (17/02/2013)

At last, today marks the end of the ridiculous prohibition in this country. And so in my opinion there’s no better movie than this to close this glorious chapter in our history. The moonshine in the Bodurant brothers’ jelly jars were capable of turning you blind even back then. Hardy is again almost legendarily awesome ("Hmm..."), Shia is continuing in his career as far as possible from beg robots and I dare say this is the best possible direction, Guy Pearce is a disgustingly slippery swine, Oldman devilishly stylish and Jessica Chastain. Hillcoat superbly layers up the story and period atmosphere, adding just the right amount of rawness. Brass knuckles are now officially the weapon of the year. Cave delivered a superb screenplay and excellent music... simply a movie to warm the heart. (28/09/2012)

Considering how precisely this movie was made, I missed something that would suck me into the story so that it could blow my mind with each new scene. The actors were great, the shots were amazing, the atmosphere of the first half of the 20th century was awesome, but the entire movie falls on small details. For example, I thought that the ending was a farce. And the entire shoot-out was like children meeting in the sandpit and sling-shooting pebbles at each other.  Nobody knows who hit whom, some people are lying on the ground, some aren’t and some people are faking being hit. Really strange. Considering that this movie is so incredibly realistic, I’m lacking some sort of an eye for scenes that should have been key scenes and they were a flop instead. A shame. (03/12/2013)

A lovable comic book movie that isn't based on a comic book. Wondering why it's a comic book movie? No? Let me tell you. For example, aside from the utterly Bond-esque mega-overacting of the über-villain Guy Pearce, the setting of the scenes (when Mia Wasikowska is there, the sun and gentle breeze caresses her face, while conversely all the Bondurant ranch scenes are shrouded in grey or snow, stroking Hardy's boxer all over the places on his body where it hurts), and the overall explicitness, it's especially the framing, which almost eliminates informative shots, for example. The dialogue sequences, too, virtually nowhere stoop to a shot/countershot scheme, and for the conflict sequences, these are dominated by framing containing both the attacker and his victim in the same frame. The stylized characters and their perfect casting keeps the attention even of those who might not give a shit about the fantastic detail and period fidelity of each film location, the legendary sound, the tame script with which Cave ungracefully buries the otherwise perfect Proposition, and the spectacular direction in the action scenes. After that, you don't even mind the severely mismanaged finale, where no one really knows what to do and they don't quite figure out how to hide it. (27/09/2012)