Movie Review: Lawless

There has been a lot of crime drama to come out recently, but none have focused on the dangerous trade of bootlegging in 1930's America. Enter Lawless which brings the true story of the Bondurant brothers, some of the most iconic bootleggers in history to the big screen. Lawless is a very well-done, thoroughly entertaining, and often darkly humorous crime drama. This film is driven by strong performances from an immensely talented cast. As expected, Tom Hardy is excellent and steals the show as Forest Bondurant, The badass, miserable leader of the Bondurant brothers. Every minute he is on the screen the film becomes more interesting and he delivers an award-caliber performance. Guy Pearce also shines as the corrupt deputy from Chicago sent to end the Bondurant's bootlegging reign. His character is incredibly menacing and he creates one of the best villains, if not the best to appear in any film this year. The real surprise here though is how good Shia LaBouef is. LaBouef proves he can actually act when given the proper material. His performance here should take his career in a different direction and get him a lot more serious roles that show off how talented of an actor he is. The film also benefits from being absolutely stunningly shot. The cinematography is easily amongst the best, if not the best I've seen this year. Lawless is a damn fine entry in the crime drama genre. The action scenes are tense and well-shot, the story is engrossing, and it's able to paint what seems to a very accurate portrayal of what the days of bootlegging were like. Hopefully this movie doesn't go unnoticed by the Academy come awards season.

4/5 Stars