Lawless

http://lawless-film.com/

I was intrigued by Lawless from the first time I saw the trailer. I wondered what it was about this film that made Shia LaBeouf make it his next film following 2011's Transformers: Dark Of The Moon. It might only have been a year but it had seemed quite a hiatus for an actor who had been releasing an average of two to three films a year since 2005. 

I was also intrigued because of the calibre of the other actors involved. The cast list reads like a who's who of 'ones to watch' mixed with seasoned actors at the top of their game. But the film seemed to be an odd choice for me. I have discussed this at length with several of my friends and we think it seems this way because we in the UK have no affinity with the story of the Bondurant boys. Until Lawless was released I doubt many people over here had heard of them. Now I have seen the film it does make more sense that these actors wanted to be a part of this project.

I figured I'd see the film immediately (as a fan of Mr LaBeouf) but it took me longer than I thought to get around to it. By which point most of my friends had already seen it and raved about it. My hopes for the film were set high and while it didn't disappoint, I didn't love it either. 

I felt that all the performances were exemplary. Especially LaBeouf who it seemed had something to prove by making this movie, and Tom Hardy who has the more difficult job of making the almost mute Forrest Bondurant likable. Guy Pearce is definitely the one with the showy role here and truly makes you detest his character with a fiery passion. If you're a fan of Guy Pearce be prepared to hate him like never before. All those in supporting roles, from the always likable Jessica Chastain to the usually annoying Mia Wasikowska, do a decent job without overshadowing the leads. Even Gary Oldman puts in a rather understated supporting performance here. 

I think the thing that lets Lawless down is the violence. It just didn't feel justified or needed. The things which were important for character development could have been hinted at or shown in different ways. I didn't feel that the film needed to be uber violent or bloody as it was. And I know of at least one person who didn't see the film because of that very reason. It could have easily been a 15 certificate without those scenes or with re-cut scenes and would have appealed to a wider audience as such. 

Other than that I can't really put my finger on why I didn't love it. It's a good little story with characters you can get behind and a great group of actors at it's core. Maybe I'll feel differently by the time it comes out on DVD as maybe it's just a case of over-hype, but I definitely think that people should see Lawless and make up their own minds. 8 out of 10. 

Viewing Date - 25th September 2012

UK Release Date - 7th September 2012

Cast Overview:

Shia LaBeouf ~ Jack Bondurant

Tom Hardy ~ Forrest Bondurant

Jason Clarke ~ Howard Bondurant

Guy Pearce ~ Charlie Rakes

Jessica Chastain ~ Maggie Beauford

Mia Wasikowska ~ Bertha Minnix

Gary Oldman ~ Floyd Banner

Noah Taylor ~ Gummy Walsh

Director ~ John Hillcoat

Writer(s) ~ Nick Cave (Screenplay) and Matt Bondurant (Novel)

Transformers: Dark Of The Moon

http://www.transformersmovie.com/

I realise that this review is going to reveal me as being a somewhat non-committal movie star harlot but I have yet another actor type crush to reveal. Not satisfied with Jake, Bradley and Ryan I also have to add Shia to the mix.

And like Jake, I have met him too. Well, sort of whacked him actually. And he was lovely about it. So don't believe everything you read about famous people coz they're not all lousy!

Anyway, enough of that and on with the film. As a Shia fan you might have guessed that I was quite looking forward to Transformers 3. I also rather like the Autobots (although my friend didn't believe me when I told her that was why I owned the first film on DVD, "you like it because of the ROBOTS?" she'd asked me, trying to wangle out of me the real reason I had the film).

The third (and part of me hopes the final) installment of the Transformer Trilogy opens with the "real" reason that the American's rushed to be the first to go to the moon in the 60's. The film tells us that this was because a ship from the Transformers home world, Cybertron, which contained revolutionary technology, crash landed on the moon and the American's wanted to be the first to find out what it was. Since then, the Decepticons have been to the "Dark of the Moon" of the film's title and taken the items from the crashed ship, which turn out to be a teleportation device. It's only then that the dopey Decepticons discover that the device can only be operated by the ship's pilot, the former Autobot leader Sentinel Prime, who is still marooned on the moon. The Autobots go on a mission to retrieve Sentinel and re-gain the stolen items from the Decepticons.

Although I said that part of me hopes this will be the last Transformers film, I should point out that my reason for this is that this would be a really good note to end on. At least for a while. It's a vast improvement on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen which was too long and a big, overblown mess. This is a shorter film for one, the action set pieces don't feel like they take over too much, it has a decent, not-too-complicated plot, and unlike the last film, this time when the Transformers die, they stay dead. Which I have to say was very upsetting for me as one of my favourites dies in this film. But I won't spoil it by saying who.

My only criticism would be that the ending is quite cheesy and abrupt, whereas the last two films felt like they had a good 5 minutes where they wrapped everything up nicely, this one just sort of, ends! 

Not even the addition of Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, who I expected to find annoying, spoiled it for me (although her lips are faintly ridiculous!). 

Enjoyable and action packed. More movies like this would mean a good start to the summer. 8 out of 10. 

Viewing Date - 29th June 2011

UK Release Date - 29th June 2011

Cast Overview:

Shia LaBeouf ~ Sam Witwicky

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley ~ Carly

Josh Duhamel ~ Lennox

John Turturro ~ Simmons

Tyrese Gibson ~ Epps

Patrick Dempsey ~ Dylan

Frances McDormand ~ Mearing

John Malkovich ~ Bruce Brazos

Kevin Dunn ~ Ron Witwicky

Julie White ~ Judy Witwicky

Alan Tudyk ~ Dutch

Ken Jeong ~ Jerry Wang

Director ~ Michael Bay

Writer ~ Ehren Kruger