“Only assholes drink Mr. Pibb.”
Recently, the
American western has been making a comeback since the remake of True Grit. After
True Grit we’ve got films and television shows such as Bone Tomahawk, Slow
West, The Salvation, The Homesman, Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, Justified, and
Hell on Wheels. A lot of the westerns have brought fresh and unique approaches
to the genre. Essentially westerns are love letters to a long-ago era. The stories
are usually simple, but the dialogue almost poetic. The desperado usually wears
black and the protagonist wears a white stetson. The desperado can even be the
hero of the story. Watching a good western is one of my favorite things to do. Hell
or High Water, a rare modern western, is a gritty captivating film that stays
on the viewer’s mind even weeks after watching. Hell or High Water works on so
many different levels. It’s certainly one of my favorite films of this year.
The story is about
two brothers, Tanner and Toby Howard that turn to robbing banks for their
livelihood. They rob a specific chain of banks for a personal reason. Their
mother had just passed away from a terminal illness and she left them the
family farm. They can’t live on the farm since it’s about to reach foreclosure
from the bank. So then Toby plans to rob from the soulless banks that robbed
them of their land. So it’s a mission to correct the wrongdoings that was
brought upon his family. The brothers aren’t criminals (well Toby anyways) they’re
simply desperate. With the news about the robberies, a Texas Ranger and his
partner search for the robbers.
The film’s opening
scene shows the brothers calmly and without any violence robbing a bank. Toby
wanted to rob the bank when it first opened when there were no customers. The
brothers only take the small bills from the front. They get away easily, bury
their vehicle, and carry on to the next bank location. Toby is a soft-spoken,
concerned, strong, and well-mannered man. He’s divorced and his two sons live
with his ex-wife. He can barely pay child support for them. His intentions are
essentially good. He wants to give the family farm fully paid to his children
so they won’t have to live in poverty. Tanner is an ex-convict who is wild,
erratic, hard headed, but has a strong love for his brother. He’s doing the
robberies for his brother and for the thrill of it. Toby makes sure that no
innocent people are harmed during the robberies and that’s why he made a
foolproof plan.
Once word is out on
the bank robberies two Texas Rangers Marcus and Alberto search for the people
responsible. Marcus is senior investigator in the department. He’s almost
retired and wants to go out in the blaze of glory for his last case. He seems
to always be worn out and breathes heavily when he walks for too long, but is
smart when it comes to solving cases. Marcus is rather racist and extremely
sarcastic. He makes racist and bigoted jokes about Alberto’s heritage (Native
American/ Mexican). The both banter back and fourth. It’s a reminder of when
friends could tease one other without worrying about class action lawsuits.
Their friendship provides both insights into the culture of West Texas. Alberto
provides his thoughts on where America is going. He points out how the whites
robbed the West and took it from the Natives and now it’s happening to the
white families who have owned their property for generations. What he says is
full of truth and irony. The conversations Marcus and Alberto have are some of
the best writing I’ve seen on film.
West Texas is
still the Wild West. The film feels like it’s a love letter to West Texas. The
desert towns feel like they’re ghost towns. When the brothers pass through the
towns there’s many foreclosure signs, pawn shops, loan shops, and the banks.
Director David McKenzie (Starred Up) wanted to show the viewer the town’s
desperation visually. That the bank’s greed is changing a once beautiful
flourishing land. He wanted to portray that the banks have become judge, jury,
and executioner for people who aren’t wealthy enough then strip them of their
family possessions.
The cast is superb as
they all gave such amazing performances. Ben Foster plays his typical
character, the charismatic maniac, but he plays it so well especially in this
film. If you haven’t seen any of his films watch 3:10 to Yuma and Ain’t Them
Bodies Saints they’re really good. Tanner’s character is unpredictable but holds
a strong code when it pertains to family. Chris Pine truly shines in this film.
He showed his potential as an actor in the Star Trek reboot series and in Hell
or High Water he finally proved his acting ability. Pine gives a fresh, subtle,
and an emotionally persuasive performance. Jeff Bridges is great as the
sarcastic Texas Ranger on his last case before retirement. Jeff Bridges is
basically playing himself, which is fine by me.
The cast may be
outstanding, but the true star of the film is the script. It rises above the
typical bank robbery film due to the phenomenal writing of Taylor Sheridan who
wrote last year’s Sicario. The dialogue is some of the best I’ve seen in a
film. I always look for good dialogue, which is why I love the Before Sunrise
trilogy, Glengarry Glen Ross, My Dinner with Andre, and Pulp Fiction. The dialogue has that natural feeling to it
from the brothers to Marcus and Alberto.
David Mackenzie and
Taylor Sheridan created a masterpiece of a western. It’s a film that is
composed of many complex themes like corporatism, family, the American Dream,
racism, and where America may be headed one day. Toby states that he’s never
been a part of the American Dream because the family has always been kept poor.
That the family has been in poverty for so many generations that it has slowly
became a sickness. He doesn’t want his children to be a part of such a
sickness. Toby wants them to live the American Dream as best they can. Even
though Toby rather do anything else than rob banks, but he does it for family.
Tanner enjoys being a criminal, but he’s being careful because he’s helping his
brother. Marcus is conflicted because the town finds the brothers to be heroes
robbing the banks that have been robbing them.
Hell or High Water
is a perfect film. It rises above the typical heist film with its many complex
themes and great dialogue. Many of the summer films were simply popcorn movies,
with an exception to a few films, so it was nice when this came out.
5 out of 5
