Comancheria

Hell or High Water (2016)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Toby Howard (Chris Pine) and his ex-con brother Tanner (Ben Foster) rob three banks in one day with plans on hitting more the following day. Pretty soon Texas Ranger Marcus Hamilton (Jeff Bridges) and his partner are on their trail.

Director David Mackenzie's HELL OR HIGH WATER is a throwback to a previous era's Western where you've got good guys, bad guys and guys that are somewhere in between. A lot of praise was aimed at the film and it's easy to understand why because it's a very laid back picture that takes its time getting to why the brothers are doing the crime and it also takes its time in explaining why the Ranger is so interested in it.

What impressed me most about the film was the fact that it was so laid back. The quiet nature of the Texas small towns are certainly on display and I liked the fact that the director didn't mind keeping things at a slow burn leading up to the climax. I'm certainly not going to spoil the ending but it perfectly sums up everything that we had seen leading up to it. I can see how some might be disappointed that this film wasn't louder and feature stronger stuff but the atmosphere and setting were perfectly handled.

Another major plus are obviously the performances but would you expect anything less from the three leads? Pine is certainly coming into his own and delivering one fine performance after another. His character is the one that is most haunted by his actions and I really liked the depth that Pine brought to the role. Bridges, who picked up an Oscar-nomination, is also quite good playing the Ranger who (no shock) is about to retire. For my money it was Foster who stole the film playing the more psychotic brother. I really thought the actor did a fantastic job at playing this crazy person who also had a great love for his younger brother.

The cinematography, the editing and all the other technical aspects are excellent. I did have a few problems with the picture including some of the scenes that had songs playing over them. The country music selections were fine songs but at times I thought they weren't needed in a few of the scenes. Still, HELL OR HIGH WATER is a current day Western and a darn good one at that.

Bank robberies have been featured in many hundreds of films since the early days of cinema: The Great Train Robbery for example dates back to 1903! More recent heist classics such as "Oceans 11", "Die Hard", "Run Lola Run" and "The Dark Knight Rises" tend towards the stylised end of the act. Where this film delivers interest is in aligning the protagonists' drivers with the banking and mortgage 'crimes' featured in last year's "The Big Short". Add in to the movie Nutribullet a soupçon of the West Texan setting from Arthur Penn's 1967 "Bonnie and Clyde", turn it on and you have "Hell or High Water".

Chris Pine ("Star Trek") and Ben Foster ("Inferno", "The Program") play brothers Toby and Tanner Howard trying to rescue their deceased mother's ranch from being foreclosed on by Texas Midlands bank. Rather than taking one of the "get out of debt" offers advertised on billboards – cleverly and insistently introduced in long panning highway shots – the brothers have their own financial plan: a scheme that involves early morning raids of the cash drawers of small-town Texas Midlands branches. But the meticulous planning of Toby, as the calm and intelligent one, are constantly at risk of upset by the unpredictable and violent actions of the loose-cannon Tanner.

Since the amounts of cash stolen are in the thousands rather than the millions, the FBI aren't interested and the case is handed instead by aged and grumpy Texas Ranger Marcus Hamilton (Jeff Bridges, "True Grit") and his partner Alberto (Gil Birmingham). The pair have a respectful relationship but one built around racial banter, with Hamilton constantly referring to Alberto's Mexican/Comanche heritage. A cat and mouse game ensues with the lawmen staking out the most likely next hits. The sonorous cello strings of the soundtrack portend a dramatic finale, and we as viewers are not disappointed.

The performances of the main leads are all excellent, with Chris Pine given the chance to show more acting chops than he has had chance to with his previous Kirk/Jack Ryan characters. His chemistry with Ben Foster is just sublime. Similarly, Jeff Bridges and Gil Birmingham make for a formidable double act. It is Jeff Bridges though who has the standout performance and one that is Oscar nominated for Best Supporting Actor. (In fact with Michael Shannon also getting nominated in the same category for "Nocturnal Animals", we can add 'West Texan lawman' to 'Holocaust movies' (a Winslet "Extras" reference there!) as the prime bait for Oscar nomination glory!)

The real winner here though is the whip-smart screenplay by Taylor Sheridan ("Sicario") which sizzles with great lines: lines that make you grin inanely at the screen regularly through the running time."In your last days in the nursing home, you'll think of me and giggle" schmoozes Tanner to the pretty hotel check-in girl: a come-on clearly worth remembering as it delivers the goods, as it were.

The trick here is in building up a degree of empathy and sympathy for the characters on both sides. The 'bad guys' here are successfully portrayed as the banks. Before the 2017 awards, you could get 25/1 odds on this winning the Best Original Screenplay Oscar – but I would personally rate it right up there with "Manchester by the Sea".

Deftly directed by Scot David Mackenzie ("Starred Up") this is a film (the first of two!) that might well have elbowed it's way into my Top 10 of 2016 if I'd seen it during its cinema release. Well worth catching on the small screen.

(For the graphical version of this review, please visit bob-the- movie-man.com).

With Taylor Sheridan as the writer and David MacKenzie at the helm, I had high hopes for this movie. Both of their last respective projects (Sheridan - Sicario, MacKenzie - Starred Up) were gritty, violent, and engaging. All of those hold true for Hell or High Water.

The main characters, Chris Pine and Ben Foster turn in great performances. Ben Foster plays the ex-con brother. And as usual, he turns in what I think was the best performance of the movie. He has a knack for playing a top notch supporting role, and often times gets overlooked. Chris Pine also nails it as the more straight laced brother. For a pretty boy of Hollywood, his portrayal is authentic. Jeff Bridges also compliments these two well as the older, sort of jaded officer. Both him and Foster even provide a good amount of laughs, but neither overdo it.

The setting of the movie really sets it above others in the genre. I would say this movie is more crime/drama or heist film than Western, but it definitely has a Western vibe due to its northwest Texas setting. The area has been hit hard by the recession, a failing farm industry, and big oil. It all makes the recklessness and danger Foster and Pine engage in that much more enjoyable, and even sort of relatable. The audience can at least sympathize with them as they do what they think is right.

Overall, this film is well worth a watch. It can be put in a league with more recent films like The Town, Drive, and The Place Beyond the Pines.

Jeff Bridges and Chris Pine put on an acting clinic.

Bridges at 66 has enough swagger, 'tude and testosterone to be an action figure.

Pine, always reliable as a A-lister, takes his craft to a whole new level. He is as far from Captain Kirk as the earth is from the moon. Superb work. And unforgettable.

The script is to die for. Intelligent to a degree that makes you wonder aloud how the constant stream of B and C movies out of Hollywood ever get funded. Solid from the first line of dialog to the last.

West Texas is the unbilled co-star. You feel like you are there.

One of the best releases of the year.

((Designated "IMDb Top Reviewer." Please check out my list "167+ Nearly-Perfect Movies (with the occasional Anime or TV miniseries) you can/should see again and again (1932 to the present))

Look at Chris Pine trying to prove he's not just a pretty face doing these small films that show his range, and show how he can do accents, but seriously, Pine was totally in his element here.

Jeff bridges gave a great performance that matches his cowboy ethics in True Grit, playing a very old school Texas Ranger hunting down Pine and Ben Foster who play brothers robbing banks. A little in the Archie Bunker Territory when dealing with his Mexican, Native American partner, but all the way likable.

Ben Foster was fantastic as well,as the bad apple big brother looking for redemption. Very dynamic acting, by all three main actors.

The music really adds to the cool western feel, putting me in the cowboy mode. I thought it was interesting that they had one scene in the movie in which real life cowboys herding cattle appear, in a movie about the movie style cowboys, and it's some real cowboy stuff going on here.

It's very macho without turning off the indi crowd that would love this film. There's a scene in the movie when Jeff Daniels Character confronts one of the bank robbers and it was like Eastwood and Wayne back in the day, man. It just wraps up the whole vibe of the movie in one swoop. I feel like it's the type of movie everyone in Texas should love.

And it's very Texas (or rather what I expect from Texas): every dinner only sells streak, It's hard to be a armed bank robber because at least two people in the bank carry a gun. The film does use Texas as a perfect pocket for all American life with the bank robbers having a bigger agenda to save the land they own and secure a future for their family, screwing over the bank that's screwing them.

It has the same appeal of the Timber when it comes to today's Westerns, but it's setting in contemporary times but with that old fashion tone gives it an edge.

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