Review: “Hell or High Water”

So let’s do a quick recap of what I’ve reviewed so far on this blog:

-The first season of Netflix original series, “Stranger Things”

-Two pop songs

Well despite how proud I am of all those entertainment reviews, we have yet to touch upon my favorite format of entertainment, film.  I took multiple film courses in college and even wrote a few screenplays back in the day.  I often go to the cinema since I find comfort sitting at the movie theater watching a new movie.  Which I ended up doing the other day on a date night with my girlfriend as we went to go see the movie I’m reviewing today, “Hell or High Water”.

Now when I first read about this movie, I didn’t see a single trailer for it.  Which is a rarity for me since I can’t think of a single occasion where I never saw a movie without at least watching the trailer.  My initial curiosity was an online article where it advertised itself as a modern day western.  If there is any film genre that has hit a bit of a snag recently in terms of successful movies, it’s westerns.  There aren’t nearly as many modern day westerns that are as memorable as the huge hits of yesteryear with the only two successful westerns of recent memory being True Grit and Django Unchained.  It’s been a rough decade for westerns and when I saw the massive amounts of critical acclaim this new modern day western was getting, I was intrigued to give this a chance someday.  Well someday came sooner than I expected.

Texas brothers, Toby (Chris Pine), and Tanner (Ben Foster), come together after years divided to rob branches of the bank threatening to foreclose on their family land.  For them, the hold-ups are just part of a last ditch scheme to take back a future that seemed to have been stolen from under them.  Justice seems to be theirs, until they find themselves on the radar of Texas Ranger, Marcus (Jeff Bridges) looking for one last grand pursuit on the eve of his retirement, and his half-Comanche partner, Alberto (Gil Birmingham).  As the brothers plot a final bank heist to complete their scheme, and with the Rangers on their heels, a showdown looms at the crossroads where the values of the Old and New West murderously collide.

After seeing this in theaters, I can’t wait to rewatch it again real soon.  This is going to be a tough first review for my new blog because this movie was fantastic.  From start to finish, I was on the edge of my seat since it gets straight to the thrills right away and while it does slow down a bit in between heists, it does it for all the right reasons.  What makes this different from recent westerns is instead of borrowing from the past in terms of time periods and settings, it borrows what made westerns from the past so timeless with well developed characters, incredibly strong acting, and great pacing.  The modernization of this western is also a perfect choice because it helps us relate to the brothers choice to rob from the banks that have been robbing them of their livelihoods with their land being foreclosed on them.  It also makes us relate to the Rangers as we understand not only why they are serving up justice because it’s the right thing to do, but how people from different ethical backgrounds can get along despite all of their obvious differences.  That is a strong message conveyed extremely well in our society today.

The acting here is incredible as in a just Academy of Motion Pictures, this should not be forgotten when it comes to nomination time and I seriously hope it doesn’t go overlooked.  Jeff Bridges puts in another fantastic memorable performance, but the real revelations in this movie were Chris Pine and Ben Foster.  Both of whom who have always been charming actors in respective roles in the past, but both I couldn’t take seriously as great actors.  Well not anymore because both of them are amazing in this movie.  Chris Pine shows that he is more than just another good looking male lead as he plays the straight man to Ben Foster, who plays insane and hot tempered very well.  I think these roles should help get both men recognized even more in the future because the chemistry these two shared made me believe they were actual brothers and that both of them held up well on their own as their respective characters.  Toby (Pine) wants to rob these banks to provide a better future for his family, even though he knows it’s not the right thing to do, but wants to be able to see his kids again.  Tanner (Foster) has a criminal background and history due to his anger management problems, but wants to redeem himself in the eyes of his brother and is willing to do whatever it takes to make him happy and feel loved again.  It’s hard to choose between which character I felt more strongly about because I loved both of these characters so much.

Without spoiling too much of the movie because it needs to be sought out by everyone, the movie evens has an ode to the ending of westerns from the past with a standoff about the law and proper justice which ends as tense as you would expect because both sides know that this incident will leave them haunted for the rest of their lives and you feel the tension and repercussions as the movie fades to black.

Hell or High Water is definitely one of the best movies I’ve seen this year.  I am not sure if this will be the best or not come year end time, but as of right now, it will be hard to beat this out.  It’s a timeless classic set in the present and I hope it’s influential for years to come because it is possible to make a modern day western set in this time period.  All you need to do is just make us relate.