Lawless (formerly entitled "The Wettest County")

hmmm very interesting. Oldman, Chastain, Pearce and Hardy, yep! I'm in. And I'm not among those who hate Shia, so I'm looking forward to what he's gonna come up with in this film. I think he can act and this could be a nice departure from the roles we've seen him in until now.

I'm one of those who hate shia x 1K so unless this movie is amazing I ain't touching it. He stinks up the whole show, the guy should never be in any films. But get this, I think he's a stand up guy and have no issues with him outside of show biz.

Strange like that. Sometimes it has the opposite effect on others. For instance I love the character rachael on Friends' but can't stand Jennifer asiston her in real life.

I saw Lawless today and, despite the presence of the semi-talented Shia LaBeouf, rather liked it. Lawless tells the story of three brothers and their participation in a "moonshine war" in Prohibition era rural Virginia. The attention paid to details of the times was impeccable and so was a feast for the eyes. As one might expect, Tom Hardy and Jason Clarke as two of the brothers turned in impressive performances as did Guy Pierce, as a crooked and psychotic deputy working out of the office of a crooked state attorney general.

The weakness of the film was its lack of focus and the character of the bootlegging brother played by LaBeouf. The guy was weak and juvenile until nearly the very end. Come to think of it, that may have made it a good role for LaBeouf but it did little for the drama. Although Lawless was exciting it could never seem to find a theme. It's only 115 minutes long, however, so it went by quickly. I recommend Lawless. 7 Stars out of 10.

You know her personally?

We were closer when I dated her brother on and off but not so much after we broke up. I rather not discuss anything personal and go off topic so if you have some questions send me a PM and I might answer pending...

Thanx for the review.
I'll rent the BD.

A great cast that never seems to take it to the next level. Lawless is not a bad movie it just lacks any creativity that would make it worthy of remembering 10 minutes after the credits roll. This film has a storyline, but they try to fill the time with scenes and side stories that really didn't need to be placed into the film. The story wasn't really deep at all. It lacked heart, and sometimes, purpose and intellect. The cast was nearly perfect. Everything seemed too good to be true. The cast, the story, everything. But the film, I felt, lacked something. I didn't feel connected to any of the characters, as in they felt too two-dimensional.

Lovely locations, beautiful cinematography and an nice soundtrack so it's that much more a waste. Told from the POV of the weakest cast member Shia Le Beouf, and saddled with a one-note villain Guy Pearce and Gary Oldman was so under utilized in the film. He only has about 3 scenes in the entire movie, no more than 5 minutes and the females are totally wasted esp Chastain. The screen lights up when Tom Hardy is in a scene and shot in just weeks while he was bulked up for Warrior or Bane, he is saddled with disgusting neck muscles, an ugly cardigan sweater, an uglier growth of stubble, and he speaks spends the whole time grunting like a freaking frog. IMO he hasn't developed charisma, presence or intensity of say a Ryan Gosling or Matt damon just yet to be that leading man or carry a big film.

The movie itself is morally ambiguous, you really don't know who to cheer for. it lacks backbone, and while some of the visuals are nice and stick in your mind;The film doesn't follow a set plot structure, and basically is just comprised of a number of surreal set pieces, which follow on from one another. Looking to the plot, it was convincing enough, as were the costumes and settings...beautifully filmed scenery I'll give it that.

All in all, it was not a terrible movie, but it could have been a whole lot better. There didn't seem to be much of a story, just a slick haired Guy Pearce hunting down a few outlaws. But wait, he doesn't kill them. He just keeps coming back to threaten and beat them every now and then.,,whatever YMMV. There's a slew of big releases coming in Dec so there will be some good time ahead. So far Savages is tops for me in 2012.
Edited by zoey67 - 11/28/12 at 6:37am

Liked this one.

Good performances from Pearce, Hardy, Chastain, and Le Beouf.
Oldman puts in a cameo.

This isn't Boardwalk Empire, but it's worth a rental IMO.

You know you're my pal but you are kidding right? seriously...LeBeouf? and Hardy mumbled the whole time like he had a frog stuck in his throat?

LaBeouf was good yes. And to Hardy's credit, his character did have somewhat of an issue on the throat level...

Watched Untouchables right after this. I wanted to like Lawless more but like some here have stated it lacked a certain focus. Was Hardy the lead? Was Boof the lead? The certain thing was the enemy, what a slimy bastard.

I wanted more of a Hardy/Oldman/Boof vs Pearce angle. Only got a little of that.

The setting and attention to detail in the locations and dress was really good like Untouchables.

As noted in my first post, I too was bothered by Lawless' lack of focus. I thought it was further hurt by the casting of Shia LaBeouf in a starring role opposite several much more talented actors. I still thought Lawless was worth seeing, though, primarily because of the careful attention it paid to period detail and its very talented supporting cast.

I thought he was effective in the role.
I don't really fault him for the craptaculars known as Transformers and IJ4....

Carryover from TDKR?
To be fair, in one of the featurettes it was mentioned the guy in real life did "talk" like that....so there's that.

OTOH, Hardy needs to quit smoking.

He would fit perfectly in Boardwalk Empire.

Agreed.
The Oldman character was a waste of valuable screen time.

+1

Yes. I even wondered what he was doing in the film when credits started rolling, his character could have been played by someone else it wouldn't have made any differenc... 2mn screen time max?... What a waste indeed, Oldman is so good!

A disappointment, to be sure.
Like you said, ANYONE could have been put in the role.

I think the point was, ANYONE could have been put in the role and not change how the movie ended up being, as far as how good/bad it turned out.

Yeah, that.