Lawless is a good looking, well-acted and completely predictable crime drama among moonshiners in Prohibition Era Appalachia. The filmmakers were careful to enrich the film with all kind of period detail – not just the cars and the clothes, but down to the advertisements at the gas station and the footwashing and the Sacred Harp singing at the Church of the Brethren. However, we always know that [minor spoilers] the good guys will defeat the villain and Jessica Chastain will fall for Alpha male Tom Hardy.
The story by musician Nick Cave is based on a real family of Virginia bootleggers and, as typical for Cave, is severely violent. Hardy grunts and snorts, but is convincing as the leader of his brothers, played by Jason Clarke and (why is he a movie star?) Shia LaBeouf.
But the best acting is by the supporting company. As the villain, Guy Pearce plays a lethal dandy. Gary Oldman sparkles as a gangster ally. Mia Wasikowska, looking like she stepped out of a Dorothea Lange photo, is perfectly cast as a teen girl with an eye for bad boys. And every time Jessica Chastain is on camera, she commands the screen and elevates the entire film; her beauty is especially breathtaking in Lawless, particularly when naked.
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