Hell or High Water (2016)

Hell or High Water is a grandly human film. Out of quintessential American hardship, two reckless yet earnest Texan brothers are on a daring mission to settle financial debt and provide for kin. On their heels are two equally earnest and driven Texas Rangers, bound by code of law and mutual respect. The parties are destined to clash in a gritty, nothing-to-lose showdown to the rugged, poverty-stricken, yet mesmerizing backdrop of Southwest America.Toby and Tanner unite in brotherhood and pain to form a well-oiled bank robbing machine. They ignite the film's first heist and display their simple dynamic. Tanner charges forward with a courteous, no-nonsense fury while Toby anchors the rear. The brothers juxtapose each other and harmonize a deep, reckless aggression with soundness of heart and humility as they plot their path to financial and emotional payback.Texas Rangers Marcus and Alberto pry themselves eagerly from their desk chairs to spearhead the chase of the common criminal and old-fashioned glory of taming wild. Marcus, on the brink of retirement, hides the pain of wanting to leave his mark and contribution with cynicism and sullenness. He takes the reigns as chief communicator with the witnesses, who all want their piece of the action, while Alberto absorbs the jives and insults his counterpart hurls with calm and cool. Toby and Tanner blaze forward with adrenal force, raiding by day and settling in the pleasures of gambling, sex, and beer to unwind, while Marcus and Alberto pick up the pieces and plot capture over steaks and untimely Christian rock. A haunting emotional soundtrack weaves us across the desolate Southwest towards a guns-blazing showdown, where brother and Ranger are tested in strength of will and love for one another. A masterfully simple screenplay evokes the pains and laughs of being human, and melds beautifully with fine acting, gritty cinematography, and melancholy music to produce a fantastic film.

Goofs: "During a scene near the very end of the movie, multiple pump jacks can be seen on the ranch property, but no tanks for storing the pumped oil."I live in SW Oklahoma just a little NW of the Wichita County, TX oil fields. The storage tanks are very often not located in proximity to the wells. This "goof" is not correct.

David Mackenzie's neo-western is a eulogy on the death of the American west and the last of the cowboys. There is a wistful mood and a mournful tone, with a sense of loss at the heart of the piece, and in many ways the film is all about loss - the loss of family, the loss of time, the loss of money, the loss of dignity. It's a remarkably understated crime thriller that uses the architecture of the old cat-and-mouse chase formula to sketch a surprisingly realistic picture of criminality and desperation.A lot of this film's success can be credited to both Taylor Sheridan's lean but muscular screenplay and the wonderful cast of character actors performing his matter-of-fact dialogue. Chris Pine escapes the bland movie star folly of his career thus far and completely disappears under the skin of a wounded farmboy-turned- man-of-the-house, providing the pathos and heart to the story, while on screen brother Ben Foster's fraught energy provides the conflict and volatility. And then there is the ever dependable Jeff Bridges who mumbles and grumbles his way through a performance that feels completely authentic and effortless as he doggedly pursues the brothers while looking every inch the aged cowboy. It's a shame then that his character wasn't given more meat to his bones because, regardless of Bridges' low-key brilliance, the cop-in-pursuit subplot is where the movie is fundamentally lacking. At no point do our sympathies diverge away from the outlaw brothers to the Sheriff, unlike in Michael Mann's 'Heat' where both cop and robber were portrayed in equally sympathetic and interesting ways. Therefore, there is very little conflict within us come the inevitable showdown(s) between them and that robs us of experiencing the full breath of dramatic tension and emotional impact in the third act.There is still much to like in this film, even with a somewhat insubstantial subplot. To think that a simple story about cops and robbers can still work so well in these post-modern audience aware times is actually a testament to its level of craft and execution. I thought everything about the sub-genre had been pretty much exhausted, but 'Hell or High Water' proves, much like Bridges' grizzled performance, that there is life left in this old dog yet.

While this movie held my attention and had *excellent* cinematography, the rest of it fell flat. It's hard to call this a 'character study' when all the characters are essentially the same the entire movie. It's SO slow moving, with sparse and plain dialog with an ending that's more of a 'huh'?? This could have been so much better expanding on any of the backstory or truly making any of these characters real, but I didn't get much out of it. I continue to call BS on many movies nominated for an academy award these days. I wouldn't call this a Western Either. Just the main pairs of characters having similar dialog and otherwise just hanging out together. In short, I was expecting a lot more.