Lawless

Alcohol. It can make life wonderful, make good memories, but also give us tragedy. One thing is certain, without alcohol, life would be very dull in my opinion. Just leave problems behind for a while, and enjoy life. Lawless is a original story about moonshine sellers, and the problem with law, back in a time when people where poor. The cast list is impressive, Shia LaBeouf, Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Guy Pearce and Jason Clarke. Is Lawless the next generation of The Untouchables, or is the surface too polished for it´s own good?

1931, Franklin County, Virginia. 3 brothers Jack ( Shia Labeouf ), Howard ( Jason Clarke ) and Forrest ( Tom Hardy ) run a successfull moonshine business. To keep the business going without problems with the law, they are helped by their friend Cricket Pate ( Dane DeHaan. Everything is going as planned. But one day Jack is a witness when mobster Floyd Banner ( Gary Oldman ), murder a competitor. At the Cricket bar Special Deputy Charley Rakes ( Guy Pearce ) wants to make a deal, he wants a cut of all profit made by the country´s bootleggers. Forrest does not agree and threaten to kill him if he visits again. The 3 brothers have now started a war, where their lives are at stake.

The best part of Lawless is the time perspective. The locations with the 1930 costumes looks great. The biggest problem with Lawless is the very very slow scenes. There are moments some scenes are so slow, it´s easy to fall asleep. Thankfully we get some nice violence scenes, especially when Guy Pearce gets his screen time. He is one tough bastard. If you love historical movies, you might enjoy Lawless for it´s good looks. The acting is pretty good most of the time. But the slow scenes gets annoying at moments, and that is a shame. In the long run, Lawless is a historical drama still worth watching. I can´t think of many movies that talks about moonshine in the 1930´s, by the way, the music fits perfect with the forests of Virginia. Come to think of it, i might have a glass of rum after watching Lawless, it´s easy to get thirsty.

Rating: DDD