Depression-era Moonshine Whiskey saga, from Australian director John Hillcoat, savages its way thru a violent three-sided conflict that pits local ‘still’ masters against prohibition authorities threatening annihilation unless they get a cut of the profits. Agent Gary Oldman makes his entrance ‘Tommy guns’ a’blazing, while rival enforcer Guy Pearce comes in from Chicago to organize a brewers’ protection racket. Only the Brothers Bondurant hold out, their manly independence embodied in the fraternally unlikely trio of Tom Hardy, Jason Clarke, and baby brother Shia LaBeouf. Key to the film’s failure seen in a pivotal attack on the head of this indomitable family. Quite literally an attack on ‘the head’ since Tom Hardy’s noggin’ is all but lopped off, his throat cut ear-to-ear by protection enforcers who leave him for dead. Too ornery to die, he holds his head on to walk twenty miles to the nearest clinic. Or so local legend has it. Truth is girlfriend Jessica Chastain came back and was jumped & raped before driving him to get medical attention. But in a script sourced from a book by family descendant Matt Bondurant*, this incident stands alone in setting a legend straight. Everything else overcooked, a series of set ups to ennoble the rather ignoble Bondurants. The boys sure ‘take a lickin’ & keep on tickin’! The dental bills alone! And the astonishing power of recover after constant beatings; fine in a martial arts pic, but this needs something more believable. One great moment, though: Guy Pearce, a John Hillcoat regular, carefully giving his slick hair a fresh dye job (black as night) before tomorrow’s confrontation. The ultimate bad guy here, he even offs sweet, crippled sidekick moonshiner Dane DeHaan. You may find yourself rooting for him.
WATCH THIS, NOT THAT/LINK: Young Jeff Bridges’ overlooked moonshiner-makes-good pic, THE LAST AMERICAN HERO/’73, has more feel for the territory, even when it heads to the racing track. And forgoes the loud showy ‘quiet’ acting on display here. (Hardy, in particular, might as well be practicing vocal stylings in heavy breathing for his next film, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES.) https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2011/02/last-american-hero-1973.html
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