John Hillcoat waxes poetic about violence once again with his prohibition-era crime drama, "Lawless."
The film once again teams up Hillcoat and murder-music legend turned screenwriter Nick Cave.
The story centers around three bootlegging brothers, Jack, Forest and Howard.
Guy Pearce, who played the quietly ferocious Charlie Burns in Hillcoat's violent 2005 masterpiece, "The Proposition," shows up as Special Agent Charlie Rakes, the intensely creepy, sadistic dandy of a lawman intent on putting the Bondurants out of business.
Nick Cave's screenplay is dark with a fastidious attention to its characters.
Each character in the film carries a certain subtle menace.
Unfortunately, Shia LeBeouf and Jessica Chastain are in the cast, but Hillcoat does an admirable job of handling them and they manage to turn out relatively competent performances.
The body count isn't very high, but sparse at it is, each act of violence is sickening and brutal.
The violence in "Lawless" is glorious, as it should be. The film is screaming and subdued at the same time, an unlikely mix that's become Hillcoat's haunting trademark.
If "The Road" and "The Proposition" weren't enough for Hillcoat to make his mark, "Lawless" goes a step further in establishing Hillcoat as one of the most important directors working today.
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