Lawless

I know Tom Hardy is the actor everyone is all excited about, and he's riding high on a wave of big movie roles this year, but, no matter how much I might hate saying it, Shia LaBeouf is the actor who surprises in Lawless.

Based on a true story, LaBeouf is Jack Bondurant - the youngest of three moonshine running brothers in Franklin, Virginia during The Depression. The family is led by Forrest (Tom Hardy), who has become something of a local legend as an invincible man who has withstood danger and physical harm beyond the capacity of any normal human, but the storm clouds of change are blowing (and so is my hyperbole and attempts to ramp up the excitement level of this movie review).

A new tough guy is trying to take over the moonshine business in this part of rural Virginia, but The Bondurants don't have any interest in letting anyone push them aside;

Jack is trying to make his mark in the business with a strange ally;

An enforcer, Charlie Rakes (Guy Pearce), is attempting to bully the family into compliance;

And a strange new sexy woman, Maggie (Jessica Chastain), has wandered into town.

Will The Bondurants be able to continue with their elicit business ventures?

Lawless is a movie where director John Hillcoat is enamored with the violence and tries to portray it in the most vividly visual ways you can imagine, but he should have put more work into telling the story. The salaciousness might help sell some tickets, but every character could be used better.

Pearce and Gary Oldman are absolutely amazing in small roles that should have been so much larger. Pearce gets plenty of screen time as the demented enforcer tasked with intimidating The Bondurants, and the levels of evil he is willing to bring to the character are shocking. The actor gives Rakes a truly frightening and odd personality that captivates the audience every time he is on screen and excelling far beyond what other castmembers are delivering. It's Guy Pearce's world, and the rest of the cast is lucky to be living in it.

Meanwhile, Oldman is reveling in playing an old time gangster, Floyd Banner, complete with a vicious accent and mustache. Maybe he wasn't available for more filming, but the audience is left wanting too much more when Banner doesn't appear in more than a few scenes.

Yet, LaBeouf almost makes Lawless a strong movie. He has a knack for being the sniveling underdog, and makes us take notice as Jack starts to spread his wings and emerge from his brother's shadow. He brings equals parts naivete, business brilliance and misguided cockiness to a character who could be much more annoying, but still needs to be a little annoying.

Unfortunately, so much story is begging to be told, while Hillcoat and writer Nick Cave showcase the bullets, blood and guts. The brothers have an intricate and interesting relationship, two of them have romantic entanglements that define them in ways we never get to appreciate and the moment in history is never explained beyond the obvious.

Lawless is rated R for strong bloody violence, language and some sexuality/nudity.