Hell or High Water
Film
Review
by Kam Williams
Wily Texas
Ranger Tracks Sibling Bank Robbers in Captivating Cat-and-Mouse Crime
Thriller
Tanner (Ben
Foster) and Toby Howard (Chris Pine) are siblings but about as
different as night and day. The former is impulsive, reckless and
sociopathic, a combination which helps explain why he's spent a long
stretch in prison for a violent crime. By comparison, his younger
brother is a relatively stable, sensitive and chivalrous soul.
While
Tanner was behind bars, divorced Toby has divided his time between
raising his two sons (John Paul Howard and Christopher W. Garcia) and
caring for his terminally-ill mother. So, it's no surprise that upon
his mom's recent demise, she cut that ne'er-do-well black sheep of
the family out of her will entirely, leaving her sizable estate to
her only honorable offspring.
Unfortunately,
a shady loan officer (Richard Christie) had duped her into taking a
reverse mortgage on her cattle ranch for a pittance. Consequently, a
predatory lending institution is holding a lien on land which Toby
has just learned is sitting atop a fortune in untapped oil reserves.
But unless the note is paid off by Friday, Texas Midlands bank will
follow through on its threat to foreclose, "Come hell or high
water."
Toby wants
to save the property and sign it over to his boys. Trouble is, he
can't raise the cash. The dilemma has him considering breaking the
law for the first time in his life.
Enlisting
the assistance of his just-paroled brother, he hatches a plan to rob
Texas Midlands branches until they've raised the amount needed to
retire the debt. The two proceed to embark on a spree aimed solely at
the avaricious institution that had taken advantage of their very
vulnerable mom.
However,
the heists soon come to the attention of the Texas Rangers, and the
case is assigned to Marcus Hamilton (Jeff
Bridges) a wily old veteran weeks away from retirement. It's not long
before he and his half-breed Comanche partner (Gil Birmingham) are on
the pair's trail.
Thus
unfolds Hell or High Water, a captivating, cat-and-mouse crime
thriller directed by Brit David Mackenzie (Starred Up). Between
Taylor Sheridan's (Sicario) engaging, character-driven script and a
plethora of powerful performances by Jeff Bridges and company, this
bona fide sleeper would be generating tons of Oscar buzz if it hadn't
been released in the dog days of August.
A neo-noir
masterpiece not to be missed!
Excellent (4
stars)
Rated R
for graphic violence, pervasive profanity and brief sexuality
Running time: 102 minutes
Studio: Film 44 / Sidney Kimmel
Entertainment / Lionsgate / OddLot Entertainment
Distributor: CBS Films
No comments:
Post a Comment