Hell OR HIGH Water
STARRING: Chris Pines, Dale Dickey, Ben Foster, Jeff Bridges.
DIRECTOR: David Mackenzie
Genre: Thriller, Drama
Rating: 15+
102 mins
I’M CALLING it now, Hell or High Water is this year’s breakout film. I will not be surprised in the slightest when this movie wins an Oscar.
In a year where many ‘blockbusters’ have failed to impress or even mildly entertain, it is smaller budget films like this offering that have filled in the gap and delivered quality and precision over box-office bucks and big blow-outs.
So, if you want a movie that won’t actively insult or hurt your intelligence, unlike certain Kevin Spacey movies, then watching Hell or High Water doesn’t just clear the test, it passes with flying colours.
Set in the midlands of Texas, brother duo Toby and Tanner Howard, played by Chris Pine and Ben Foster respectively, have to raise enough money within the week to prevent their late mother’s farmlands being taken up by a debt-collecting bank.
To do so, they decide to embark on a spree of small-time robberies where they only steal the loose money in the cashier drawers to avoid being drawn to the higher level of security or attention, however having to commit many more robberies to raise the amount they originally needed.
Though starting off small and simple, their crimes are quickly drawn to the attention of local Texas Rangers Marcus Hamilton (Jeff Bridges), who is on the edge of retirement, and Alberto, a half-Mexican and half-Native-American, who begin to notice the trend and decide to track down the brothers.
The heists continue to increase in their risk and danger until ultimately the brothers are forced to take a stand and face off their pursuers.
The concept might at first sounds completely familiar, being both a Western and a bank-heist cops-versus-thieves movie, but director Mackenzie finds a unique and fresh voice to portray the traits of both genres and to show the decay and dust in America’s heartland.
One of the reasons why the movie ultimately works is because of its context. Just like the most recent installations of Captain America or Batman VS Superman, the movie is set in check with 2016’s hyper-politicised world, and shows a side of America still buckling under the financial crashes of years past.
The Texan towns shown in the movie are dusty and lonely, and the oil pumped out of the ground no longer feels like black gold, but something dark and suffocating.
The movie has been instantly compared to 2007 hit-classic No Country for Old Men, but while No Country was about being grand and spanning, with a villain that was the embodiment of pure evil, Hell or High Water delves into the 21st Century love for the moral ambiguity, where the crimes are not connected to their committers and where villains are the heroes and vice-versa.
In a movie like this one, execution is crucial for tone and scene, and the director pulls off the impressive feat of communicating the loneliness and desperation throughout.
The opening shot throws us into the abandoned parking lot of the typical small town, before introducing us to our first character, a bank operator, who is immediately held at gunpoint.
Later during the same robbery a bored and unimpressed-looking employee retorts: “Y’all are new at this, I reckon.”
The humour is in no way a one-off. Throughout the movie, it coats over the raw grief and never once comes across as forced and rather it is because of the direct contrast between the situation and the humour that it actually gets you to laugh out loud.
In another scene when the law agencies arrive after a robbery and attempt to get more information about the criminals, the officer asks: “Black or white?” to whom a victim of the robbery replies: “Their skins or their souls?”
But by far, the film is most memorable for its characters and the amazing performances by its cast members. All are well-realised and sympathetic.
Toby initially appears at first driven by selfish desires, but is actually a divorcee and a father who is behind on his child support payments. His brother Tanner, on the other hand, is reckless, adventurous, unpredictable, and even slightly unhinged, yet despite that he too shines as a misunderstood-but-caring person.
Their on-screen dynamics are easy yet powerful and both their traits play off each other in a way that keeps the audience engaged at all times.
Hell or High Water is a thought-provoking movie with a message in touch with today’s context. It is a story of desperation, suffocation, rebellion and manages to be both urgent and still in its pace and tone. It is a must-watch.
Showing in: Novo Cinemas, Cineco, Seef II, Dana Cineplex
Rating: 5/5
