Hell or High Water - Love Letter to a Throwback

When you think of seventies cinema, there are certain films that help define the era by their sheer rebelliousness - Badlands, Mean Streets, Dog Day Afternoon, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, The Last Picture Show - films where authority was not only distrusted, but where the law was a gray area you punched through when you'd been pushed too far by those in control. It was an amazing era, and those fond of it often wonder if films of that stripe would ever come again.

Make no mistake, Hell or High Water is one of the best American films of the year, and if you missed it in theaters, it’s on home video now, so do not let this amazing slice of adult awesomeness slip through your fingers. If there’s any justice, it’s a Best Picture nominee, hands down. 

Set in modern-day Texas, Hell or High Water grows out of the dust of the Western outlaw genre. Two brothers, Tanner (Ben Foster) and Toby (Chris Pine) are starting up a string of low-rent bank robberies across small towns in west Texas. They don’t seem to know what the hell they’re doing. All they know is that they need to raise enough money to keep the bank from foreclosing on the family ranch – and while these two are breaking the law, the real villains in Hell or High Water are the banks. Banks who offer to “help” struggling farmers with a reverse mortgage, knowing they’ll never be able to get square, cross-hairs set the entire time on getting their land – period.

Focusing purely on smaller, untraceable bills, the brothers’ activity soon draws the attention of the Texas Rangers, led by Marcus Hamilton (Jeff Bridges). Bridges is on the cusp of retirement, and where lesser men would avoid being drawn in, Bridges' measured, irascible curiosity can’t leave anything alone, especially a very specific, modest crime wave that seems to be following a careful recipe. Bridges and his partner (Gil Birmingham) have a great dynamic, where annoyance and fondness have blurred into a begrudging co-dependence. 

Ben Foster’s long been a live-wire supporting actor doing amazing work in film and TV, from Six Feet Under, 3:10 to Yuma, Thirty Days of Night to The Messenger. He’s an electric, uncontained presence, and he nabs a role here that really lets him step forward in a terrific character dynamic with the always reliable Pine. These are two fantastic actors who play a complex sibling relationship. They’re at opposite ends of a moral spectrum, but when push comes to shove, they’ll each draw cards from the others’ deck as the situation demands.

Directed by David Mackenzie and written by Taylor Sheridan (Sicario), Hell or High Water has the same fondness for character, realism and dialogue that would make Elmore Leonard proud. Indeed, if you’re at all a Leonard fan, Hell or High Water is bound to have roped your attention by now. The tone and sense of place evokes films like Lone Star and No Country for Old Men. In this new west, outlaws still brandish iron, but as much of modern America has come to learn, when the adversaries are financial institutions, patience and planning are likely to trump good aim every time. Very highly recommended. 

Blast from the Past: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

 

SPOILER-WARNING: DO NOT PROCEED until you’ve actually seen Rogue One... 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Any doubts that Disney could find an audience for stand-alone Star Wars films that don’t directly involve Luke Skywalker and the Jedi Knights were obliterated in a massive box office blast crater this weekend, as Rogue One: A Star Wars Story took in a massive $155 million in domestic sales.

 

Now I wear my heart on my sleeve – lifelong Star Wars fan, and my expectations here were super high. Rogue One has wildly surpassed them. In many ways, this is the first Star Wars movie aimed squarely at grown-ups. We’ve all heard the pitch – this is the story of how the Rebel Alliance got ahold of the plans to the Death Star that R2-D2’s carrying in the original film. And while we know where things are going, that in no way lessens the suspense of how we get there. Godzilla director Gareth Edwards has directed a simply phenomenal, thrill-packed entry to the Star Wars franchise, that easily ranks among the series’ best. That’s right – it’s as entertaining and gripping as The Empire Strikes Back or The Force Awakens. Rogue One is a war movie, a sci-fi Guns of Navarone or Where Eagles Dare. There’s not a lot of cute in the picture, and the stakes are high. The one child is glimpsed in the film’s prologue, heroine Jyn Erso, seen as a young girl, when agents of the Empire come to take away her father (Mads Mikkelsen), the scientist necessary to complete construction of the Death Star. 

 

Jyn Grows up to be a headstrong insurgent, played by Felicity Jones. Jones is in nearly every scene, and she does a great job of carrying the film and making Jyn a compelling character. Alongside Force Awakens’ Rey (Daisy Ridley), Lucasfilm is going out of their way to provide young moviegoers with strong female role models who drive the action, and aren’t just along for the ride. The Rebel Alliance figures out who Jyn is, and sees her value as a means to get to her father. The Rebels (lead by Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor) are a murkier group here, who aren’t above taking extreme measures to serve the greater good. Jyn and Cassian are part of a Dirty Dozen band of warriors who are all terrific characters. Donnie Yen is a real standout as a blind follower of the Force from the Zatoichi school, whose cheerful serenity doesn’t impede his ability to knock the tar out of a squad of Stormtroopers. Destined for classic character status, reprogrammed Imperial droid K-2SO (motion-captured and voiced by Alan Tudyk) is outright phenomenal. Towering and intimidating, he’s like a cynical, uncensored C-3PO, and is 100% convincing and captivating.

 

Let’s talk Imperials: As the military project manager responsible for the Death Star’s completion, Ben Mendelsohn is an exceptional bad guy, desperate to be appreciated by those he answers to, including a couple of major players from Star Wars’ inception. We’re talking about events on the Death Star, so we all figured there’d have to be some kind of glimpse of Grand Moff Tarkin, despite the fact that actor Peter Cushing died in 1994. I was expecting a brief cameo, at best – so nothing prepared me for Tarkin appearing as a pretty major supporting character! While it’s bound to generate controversy, the combination of digital effects and the work of actor Guy Henry is flabbergasting. I’ve heard some wags take issue with the character’s rendering, but I strongly disagree – Tarkin’s a favorite, and Henry’s diction and delivery – the facial expressions, his insidious contempt – all eerily evoked Cushing incredibly well. I felt positively gleeful every time he appeared onscreen. Say what you will, it’s an amazing achievement.

 

Then there’s Vader. James Earl Jones is still very much alive, and to have Darth Vader back in a new Star Wars film is…is exhilerating! I don’t want to give too much away, but if you were expecting Vader to just glower through a scene or two making fists, think again. Vader is very much an active antagonist, and we see him join the fray like we simply never have before – and it’s chilling. 

 

There are plenty of surprises throughout Rogue One that are guaranteed to delight fans, but like The Force Awakens, the new characters are engaging and welcome additions. Wen Jiang, and Riz Ahmed round out the rebel squad, and Forest Whitaker is sensational as legendary insurgent Saw Gerrera. He’s been fighting the Empire all his life, and it’s taken its toll, like a crazy cross between Eli Wallach and Richard Roundtree. Special shout-out to Mads Mikkelsen as Jyn’s father. Mikkelsen has seemed sleepy and detached sometimes to me, but not here. I found him complicated and sympathetic and it’s some of his best work. I really liked him here. 

 

Yes, there’s a lot of digital work going on in Rogue One, but I found it all done with great skill, and always, always in service to the script. Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy have combined their talents to deliver some top-notch storytelling. Things people have sometimes carped on from the original Star Wars now have a deliberate purpose. That weakness in the Death Star? It’s there for a reason, and that somehow makes it that much more incredibly cool. Parents of younger children might want to think twice with Rogue One, as this is a War Movie, and there’s way more shooting and loss than they might be used to in the less combat-driven saga installments. There’s also a lot more slowed-down conversation, as characters talk about the stakes and choices at hand. Youngsters may fidget. 

 

But hands down, this is a tremendous Star Wars film. It’s busting at the seams with thrills and action, with awe and ideals, and it screams repeat-viewing like few films I’ve seen lately. It should easily give Force Awakens a run for its money, as the audience I saw it with had plenty of three-generation family attendees. It’s definitely more adult, but it never stops being fun, and Rogue One is simply one of the most entertaining films of the year.