BY ADAM QUANDT | The Statesman Director: John Hillcoat
Genre: Drama
Length: 116 minutes
Netflix rating: 4.5 out of 5
My rating: 4 out of 5
Netflix’s summary of John Hillcoat’s 2012 movie “Lawless” was what immediately sparked my interest to check out the film. The description of the movie mentions a group of bootlegging brothers during prohibition who get mixed up with gangs and the law.
I can recall seeing advertisements and previews for the movie a few years ago when the movie was first released, but never really gave seeing the film much thought. This may be attributed to the fact that I can’t see Tom Hardy in a movie without seeing Bane from “The Dark Knight Rises” every time he talks.
In some ways the Netflix description of “Lawless” remains true to the movie. The film tells the story of the Bondurant bootleggers from Virginia who end up facing mobsters from the big city along with a variety of true and crooked law enforcement officers.
Maybe it was just me, but the Netflix description made “Lawless” out to be more action-packed than it actually was.
Though there are some pretty great action scenes in the movie, I found the majority of the movie to be rather dull and slow-moving (hence why it lost the extra half star in my rating compared to the rating Netflix gave the film).
I don’t normally enjoy Shia LeBeouf’s acting in movies, but his role as the youngest Bondurant brother’s in the movie seemed to fit him well. I was also (for the most part) able to overlook Tom Hardy as Bane and for the first time actually saw him for the person he was portraying in the movie.
Despite the lack of exciting moments in the movie, I would say that “Lawless” is worth a watch.
Overall, the acting in “Lawless” was above average and really drew me into the real-life story of the Bondurant brothers. Though the story seemed to drag on at times, the plot of the film was extremely entertaining.
If you’re looking for a slightly action-packed, entertaining, based-on-a-true-story film or if you just need to get your Shia Lebeouf fix, then I recommend checking out “Lawless” on Netflix.