Lawless

Lawless

Rating 5 out of 10

I had very high hopes for this movie.  The trailer looks like an action packed movie of the moonshiners in the Prohibition Era.  Bad cops against the guys getting rich making moonshine.

I will say the acting is very good.  I like Tom Hardy (from one of my all time favorite movies Warrior- if you haven't seen it you need to rent it!)  and he does a good job as the elder Bondurant brother-Forrest and one of the baddest dudes in the land.  He oversees the family moonshine organization in back woods Virginia where the local police not only look the other way but are one of their good customers.  Shia LaBeouf plays the younger brother who never really measured up.  The lovely Jessica Chastain is thrown in as the hot ex-stripper now working in their country cafe.

When the corrupt Feds come in and shake down the moonshiners- they either pay up or they will use the law to shut them down- Forrest tells them he doesn't bow down to anyone.  The main bad guy for the Feds in Guy Pearce with one of the goofiest haircuts I have ever seen.  The battle begins.

The problem for me is the battle isn't much of a battle.  It is very slow paced and doesn't flow very well.  They do battle then nothing for a long time.  This to me seemed more like a documentary of the old days than an action packed movie.

This will make a good rental.