- Actors: Chris Pine, Jeff Bridges, Ben Foster, Katy Mixon, Kevin Rankin
- Director: David Mackenzie
- Format: Color, NTSC, Widescreen
- Language: English
- Region: Region A/1
- Number of discs: 2
- Rated: R
- Studio: Lionsgate
- Release Date: November 22, 2016
- Run Time: 122 minutes
The film
industry has become a strange beast in recent years, where Award-winning
directors such as Charlie Kaufman are unable to get studios to take a chance on
his critically acclaimed visions, but they will recklessly pillage any and all
franchises for unoriginal dribble in hopes that it will become an international
cash cow. It would be easy to become disheartened by the lack of creativity in
the film industry, if independent filmmaking hadn’t found a way to pick up the
slack. Kaufman eventually funded the award-winning Anomalisa through crowd
sourcing, and Hell or High Water was
made independent of the creatively-crippled studio system.
The odd thing
about Hell or High Water is that it
resembles the type of film that would usually come from a major studio. There
is plenty of action within the simple plot involving bank-robbing brothers in West Texas, and the film has several movie stars. The
only thing to separate this film from a studio film is the fact that it isn’t a
sequel or a remake. Dropping the audience right into the storyline beginning
with the first bank robbery, we soon discover that single father Toby (Chris
Pine) and his ex-con brother Tanner (Ben Foster) are on a mission to rob
several branches of the bank that is threatening to foreclose on their family
land. The simplicity of this decision is countered by their careful planning
and thoughtful consideration of the likely outcome.
Hell or High Water is likely to be
compared to Sicario, as it is another
realistic border state crime drama written by Taylor Sheridan, but it actually
reminded me far more of No Country For
Old Men, if only because both have grizzled and seasoned old law
enforcement officers on the trail of the criminals. In Hell or High Water, it is Texas Ranger Marcus Hamilton (Jeff
Bridges), cleverly tracking the brothers down as he bickers with his younger
partner (Gil Birmingham). Bridges has enough fun with the role that it almost
becomes his film at moments.
The simplicity
of the plot allows for an attention to detail that was also an asset of Sicario, but there are layers of older Hollywood traditions in the filmmaking as well. Bonnie and Clyde would be an obvious
example because of the bank robberies, but the film also builds to a climax
that reminded me of an old Humphrey Bogart film noir called High Sierra (1941), which ends with a
shootout in the title mountains. But beyond the action is a storyline with
modern social relevance, grounding the shoot-‘em-up sequences with realistic
drama and several dedicated performances. That director David Mackenzie gives
as much attention to the drama as he does the action is yet another indicator
that this is not a studio film.
The Blu-ray
release of Hell or High Water also
comes with a DVD and Digital HD copies of the film. The special features (like
the film itself) are far better than they have any right being. There are three
featurettes which sound fairly generic, but none are brief and all have
interesting comments from key cast and crew. “Enemies Forever” is a 13-minute
feature about the characters in the film, which a lot of insight from Sheridan. The companion
featurette with that is “Damaged Heroes,” which talks about the performances as
well as the characters the actors are playing. “Visualizing the Heart of
America” is about the shooting locations found to stand in for Texas, where the film is
supposed to take place. The briefest of the extras is a few minutes of footage
from the red carpet of the premiere, whereas the longest is the 30-minute
Q&A with Mackenzie, Bridges, Pine, and Birmingham at an LA screening.
Entertainment Value:
8.5/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 8.5/10
Historical
Significance: 7.5/10
Special Features: 7/10
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