To quote my boss, “This is why I watch movies”.
A simple declaration, but accurate. We can only hope Hollywood keeps up what they’ve been doing, movie wise, in 2017. This movie just explodes in your face with great actors, simple plot, and runs you through every emotion possible.
The movie takes you on the journey of two brothers, in an ultimate “up yours” to banking industry. As Chris Pine and Ben Foster (two actors that have really matured and come into their own) rob banks, to save their deceased mothers land and yet we’re simultaneously catapulted into the other side of the story, the law. That half follows the great Jeff Bridges, and underrated Gil Birmingham, on a cat and mouse chase with the bank robbing brothers.
I have never been as conflicted about characters since the FX show, “The Shield”. Throughout the story, you really want to like Howard brothers, but can’t pull yourself to root for them, as they desecrate their own mission, by acting worse than the banks themselves.
The film also blind sides you with a building love for Gil Birmingham’s character, Ranger Parker, only to rip your heart out in the end. Parker’s only crime, was fighting against what the brothers’ action, which they themselves even knew, were wrong. The on screen chemistry between Bridges and Birmingham is so fantastic, and real, you forget that they are actors.
Although, nothing like a bank robbing action thriller you would expect, the movie does not leave you bored at any moment. Between the plot, character development, and conflicting morals, it red lines your brain, only to push the NO’s after to movie ends, when you try to analyze what you just watched.
This is ideal writing, acting, and directing. This is not a movie you watch to relax, turn your brain off, and zone out. You almost have to condition yourself to be able to watch it, and take it in for what it is. Realistic, unpredictable, and downright memorable.
Sup, Nerds! 