Review: "Hell or High Water"

Director: David Mackenzie
Runtime: 102 minutes


August, like January, is considered a dead zone for movies (albeit moreso for big studio releases). With such a dour summer movie season, August 2016 was being set up as a true wasteland. And yet, in this strange, topsy turvy year, the summer's final act is shaping up to be its redemption. August kicked with two delightful family-oriented outings (Disney's Pete's Dragon remake and Laika's stop-motion Kubo and the Two Strings), and is now beginning to deliver high end material for older audiences as well. Case in point, David Mackenzie's Hell or High Water, a modern western thriller that takes the cat-and-mouse plotting of No Country for Old Men and makes it more accessible, without being watered down. 

Set in the sun-baked small towns of west Texas, Hell subverts our expectations from its opening shot. After a fairly standard bank heist, the story immediately takes us to another one taking place only hours (minutes?) later. Rather than clue us in from the beginning, the script by Taylor Sheridan (Sicario) drops us in the middle of a plan that's fully in motion. There are no montages of plans being made or tools being acquired. Like bank-robber brothers Tanner and Toby Howard (Ben Foster and Chris Pine), the whole movie just keeps on going. 

In retrospect, it makes Mackenzie look like an odd choice to sit in the director's chair. The UK-born helmer has never been afraid to jump genres. But nothing in the sci-fi romance Perfect Sense or prison drama Starred Up indicated that he'd be capable of delivering such a propulsive and distinctly American effort. But with Sheridan's deft, often humorous script as a foundation, Mackenzie is able to push himself into new territory and pull it off with the confidence of an old pro. Even when the characters throw out cliches (ranging from tired colloquialisms to "that's what she said" jokes), the actors carry it off so effortlessly that it feels perfectly natural amid the more natural, human moments. 

Mackenzie's strength has always been his ability to work with actors, even when guiding them through uneven material, and Hell or High Water is no exception. Pine and Foster are both excellent as the Howard brothers, convincingly passing as family while also intelligently illustrating their differences. Pine's role is lowkey compared to his swaggering, womanizing James Kirk, and it's refreshing to see him quietly nail such different material. Foster, meanwhile, is electrifying as the live wire of the two. Despite having the flashier role, he never plays to the camera, and maintains an unshakeable immersion in his role without self-consciously Acting. Jeff Bridges does fine work as well as the crotchety deputy on the brothers' trail. He also has a great deal of fun trading insults with his partner, the half-Native American, half-Mexican Alberto (Gil Birmingham, a dry-witted delight).

The supporting cast is stacked with solid performances as well. Everyone involved seems excited to be working on such a project, even when they're only given a few lines. Dale Dickey (Winter's Bone), Katy Mixon (TV's Mike and Molly), and Marin Ireland (as Pine's ex-wife) are all welcome presences (I assume the only reason Margo Martindale never showed up was because her schedule was just too crowded). The MVP of the supporting players, however, might have to go to the leathery waitress who tends to Bridges and Birmingham in a small-town steakhouse. She delivers a small rant with timing that many aspiring comedians would kill for.

And just as it seems the script might lose its way when forced to wrap things up, the film surprises yet again. Various family issues are sorted out and motivations are clarified, but Sheridan never goes overboard with the details. We know enough about the characters and what they want, and Sheridan doesn't break the spell with long-winded idealogical monologues, even when touching on issues like predatory lending. There's a rich treasure trove of ideas and emotions swirling underneath the surface, but the lush western visuals and delicate score keep things cinematic. What could have been a pretentious, tonally-erratic drama is, instead, a thoughtful story mixing finely honed character dynamics with elegantly-woven suspense. 


Grade: B+

"TRON: Legacy" - REVIEW

There probably wasn't a need for a sequel to Disney's TRON, but (money-grabbing issues aside) given the advances in VFX technology, it's hard to deny that the film's ideas deserved the visuals that today's technology can grant. Because if there's one thing that I think few would disagree about when it comes to this sequel, it's that it all looks friggin' gorgeous. It's shiny, crisp, clean, and beautifully filled with light, many of which are part of people's clothes or vehicles. And when director Joseph Kosinski gets to the points in the screenplay that allow for some fun - laser disc duels, light cycle battles, etc... - TRON: Legacy comes closest to achieving what it wants. The problem, though, is the rest of the film.

After some nicely streamlined flashbacks for those of us not acquainted with the original (ie: most people), we jump to the present. ENCOM, the company founded by the vanished Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) is on the verge of releasing its latest computer operating system, when it is broken into and hacked, and the OS is put online to be downloaded for free. The cause of this is Sam Flynn (Garret Hedlund), Kevin's son, who feels that the company has strayed from his father's vision. After getting off on minor charges, Sam is informed by a family friend (Bruce Boxleitner) that his father has paged him from his old arcade. Sam reluctantly goes, and of course is sucked into the world of TRON.

Strangely enough, Sam adapts to the world really quickly (really, really quickly) and barely spends any time being flabbergasted over the fact that he's been sucked into a digital world. Instead, the script throws him into a disc battle, which he proves decently adept at after a few missteps. Next comes a very fun light-cycle 5 vs. 5 match, and then it's off to a bunker/safe house, where the movie nearly grinds to a halt.

The problem here is that the film gives us everything people ever wanted from the TRON universe too early, and from that point on its a slightly stodgy trek back out of the digital world, complicated by a clichéd dictator who holds the world in an iron grip. It's all routine, and some of it is actually rather boring to the point where it threatens to drag down the livelier moments. And even though the cast is having enough fun (Olivia Wilde has a surprising moment or two and Michael Sheen is a blast as a flamboyant club owner), they can't compensate for the film's mechanical story-telling. The world is thriving and alive, and Daft Punk's score is absolutely perfect, because unlike the script, it actually has a pulse and some real life to it. The film wants to be a mix of action-adventure and father-son bonding, but it doesn't entirely succeed at being either, because it only seems capable of awkwardly flipping between attempts at heavy drama and all-out action. And while the end result isn't terrible, it does feel like a missed opportunity, which is a damn shame considering how much potential for a fun movie there was buried in the beautifully realized world.

Grade: C

"True Grit" - REVIEW

Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) repeatedly announces that she is "only 14 years old," and unlike the original True Grit, which starred a 20-year-old Kim Darby as Mattie, when Steinfeld says it, it rings true. Only 13 when she shot the latest film from Joel and Ethan Coen, Steinfeld's role is much more important than it was in the 1969 original, and it's just one of the reasons why the Coens' remake (or rather, re-adaptation) works so well.

Like the original, True Grit tells the story of a Mattie Ross' attempt to track down her father's murderer by hiring a hard-nosed US Marshall named Rooster Cogburn. Now, as to just how close the Coens stuck to Charles Portiss' novel for their screenplay, I can't vouch, as I've never read the source material. That said, in going back to the text instead of the John Wayne film, they've found a way to make a film that is much more inline with their sensibilities, and even their sense of humor. This is a good thing, because if there's one thing that surprised me in True Grit, it's the amount of humor that runs almost consistently throughout the film.

And even though the humor (and the story) may not entirely have the typical Coen brothers sense of irony, it still feels as though something they would come up with if they felt like playing it a little on the safe side. Assisting them through these (relatively) tame waters is their impeccable cast. Though she's been placed in (and won) supporting actress in the critics awards thus far, Steinfeld truly deserves to be labeled as lead. Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) may be the iconic character from Portiss' story, but at heart the story belongs to Mattie and her quest for justice and vengeance. Steinfeld beautifully captures the sense that Mattie is both a girl mature beyond her years, and yet still, well, 14 years old. As for Bridges, the role remains something of an emblem rather than a fully-formed character. What background details we're given don't really sink in, as their used more to portray Cogburn as a man with a penchant for rambling. That said, Bridges, whose last collaboration with the Coens gave us the ultimate laid-back "Dude," is able to pull off the role, one which has such large boots to fill. But the real joy of the film (aside from the surprise of Steinfeld) is Matt Damon as Texas Ranger LeBeouf, who has been searching for Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin) for a separate crime. Damon, recently returning to comedy on NBC's 30Rock, gets to show off his comedic talents even more here, and he plays the slightly huffy, self-important Ranger with just the right touches, without making the character truly obnoxious or unbearable. A good part of the fun also comes from the fantastic (if at times overly wordy) dialogue, which is a mix of wild west gruffness mixed with a strange pseudo-Shakespearean tone (don't expect many contractions).

But good performances are nothing new for the Coen brothers. What's really, really surprising is the film's overall emotional impact. In a career long-dominated by black humor, irony, and in some cases flat out nihilism, True Grit ends up being surprisingly touching. I can't remember the last time that term applied to anything the Coens have done (if ever). Even with the comedic aspects of the film penetrating further into the story that one would expect, by the time it reaches its climax and begins to wind down, the result is actually moving (though completely free of schmaltz). While the story basics and characters may have been traversed before, for the Coens, True Grit is bold new territory well-explored.

Grade: B/B+

Third and final trailer for "TRON: Legacy"

Even without having seen the original, this trailer finally has me excited. The visuals looks unbelievably slick, and the fact that this time the trailer actually communicates the back story effectively makes it much more appealing. And how amazing is the CGI used to create young(ish) Jeff Bridges? Garrett Hedlund is a young actor who I've never really paid much attention to, but along with this and Country Strong, this could be the year that he really makes a name for himself (he gets to act opposite an Oscar winner in both projects...not too shabby). As for Jeff Bridges, we can pretty much expect at least solid work from him; this is The Dude we're talking about, after all. Then there's Olivia Wilde and her funky asymmetrical hair, which I'm loving the more I see it. I don't watch House, and I've never seen Wilde in anything else, but she seems like a solid enough female foil for Hedlund, and convincing enough as a badass action heroine. Watch your back Angelina...

"True Grit" trailer (watch it while you can!)

This looks pretty fantastic. Aside from the obviously stunning cinematography from Roger Deakins (maybe he can finally get that Oscar this year?), the film reminds me of a quote I read about the brilliant No Country for Old Men, where the writer described the film as the first time the Coens "treated their characters without a wink." The same seems to be true here; none of the cruel ironies of A Serious Man or Burn After Reading. And since the Coens' last effort like this turned out so well, I have great faith in this film.