98% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 130 reviews)
Runtime: 102 minutes
Directed by: David McKenzie
Starring: Chris Pine, Ben Foster, Jeff Bridges, Gil Birmingham, Katy Mixon
From: CBS Films/Lionsgate
In short, if you love Southern Gothic/Texas Noir/Neo-Noir/Whatever You Want To Call It films, then this is a must-see. I explain why below in a review I-as always-copied and pasted from Letterboxd:
Until relatively recently, this movie was not even on my radar; then, I saw the (misleading; the movie is not as action packed as you're lead to believe) trailer and noticed people excitedly buzzed for it, then the high praise came in from those that saw it. I had lofty expectations and thankfully this met them.
I won't reveal much of the plot aside from what's already popular knowledge: Ben Foster and Chris Pine are brothers Tanner and Toby Howard; they love each other but they are quite different from each other. Still, they rob banks in their native West Texas while Texas Rangers Jeff Bridges and Gil Birmingham are on the hunt trying to stop their reign of terror.
A big theme of the movie is how that area of Texas is like what probably too many areas are: fallen on hard times, filled with closed businesses and people down on their luck, having trouble even affording the basic necessities of life. It reminds me of how each December for the past few years now my parents and I drive from Florida all the way to the Midwest, as one of my sisters lives out there; we haul presents for Christmas and plus it's cheaper than flying out there. Well, going through Southeastern Arkansas is incredibly depressing... aside from it being dreary December weather, small town after small town is filled with a lot of empty buildings, businesses that look to have been closed for years by now. I wonder how those people even survive day to day life there when there's nothing to do and there appears to be precious little when it comes to a job. That reminded me of the run-down sights you saw in this motion picture.
Anyway, this is such an captivating movie watching the characters interact with each other and deal with the various obstacles that come up in their path. There is a definite reason the brothers rob those banks and “greed” isn't the entire story. Bridges and his old age is part of the story for his role of Marcus Hamilton. Everyone in the cast does a swell job with their roles and you get wrapped up in the plot, which tackles many relevant themes, some of them unfortunately affecting many Americans. This is definitely more than just a cliché “Cops vs. Robbers” tale you commonly find in crappy direct to video productions; you do get some pretty violent scenes but this is about a lot more than that.
I won't say why but in several ways this felt quite retro, and I imagine one aspect or two of it will rankle a small segment of people out there; I know how things are in 2016 but to me it was nothing to get out of shape about; it is just a trait of a crusty old man who is from a different time. Overall, I feel this is a movie worthy of its lofty praise as it covers serious topics alongside being an exciting movie where you see two forces come together and the result of that is pretty explosive. This being filmed in Eastern New Mexico instead of West Texas is not really a detriment as it certainly looks like West Texas (I've driven through there while on vacations as a kid) and it's a pretty landscape nonetheless. Needless to say, I highly recommend this for most people.
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