The plains are as long as they are bare in West Texas. It is a setting used hundreds of times before, and a setting that will be used a hundreds of times more. The same can be said about Director David Mackenzie’s latest film, Hell or High Water, a film so simple in its design and production that it comes off nearly flawless.
Toby Howard (Chris Pine) is a failing farmer, as well as a failing father. A divorced dad of two, the audience meets Toby in the middle stages of personal collapse – his mother has died, his brother has just been released from jail, and he is struggling to save the family farm from foreclosure. His desperate situation leads to a desperate decision when he asks his brother Tanner (Ben Foster) to start robbing banks.
The film jumps into action with the masked duo robbing a simple bank in broad daylight before escaping into the vast Texas desert. They proceed to bury their getaway car, a process they repeat several times through the film, being extra careful to avoid the authorities wherever they end up.
The brother’s different approaches to their crime are established early in the film – Tanner is aggressive, assertive, and violent. He’s the one that goes for the money, yelling at babbling tellers and taking out those in his way. On the other hand, Toby displays a bit of resistance towards being a criminal. He doesn’t like how easily Tanner can break the rules. “I never met nobody that got away with anything.” Toby tells him.
Enter the antagonists’ antagonist Marcus Hamilton (Jeff Bridges), an aging white-haired Texas Ranger with an uncontrollable sense of humor, and his half Native American, half Mexican partner Alberto (Gil Birmingham), the constant victim of Marcus’ quips. As much as they snap at each other, Bridges and Birmingham play off a genuine partnership. The problem for their characters is that Pine and Foster do the same, and then some. Though Toby and Tanner are robbers, as brothers, they are sweet, and their work together onscreen creates the powerful illusion that there is nothing either of them wouldn’t do for the other.
Pine and Foster shine together, as do Bridges and Birmingham. The film’s high point is its presentation of not just one, but two mismatched relationships.
Towards the end of the movie, as the cats get closer and closer to catching the mice, it becomes increasingly difficult to choose which side to root for. Everyone knows the robbers are eventually going to have a downfall. It would be concerning to think that the law couldn’t catch the Howards based on how they are running their operation. But as ridiculous and slim the chance is, a part of us still wants them to escape. Then again, they’re criminals. And as people with clear minds, we should want Marcus and Alberto to get them. But Mackenzie and screenwriter Taylor Sheridan make it awfully challenging to pick.
Hell or High Water is a subtle film. Like the Coen Brothers’ No Country for Old Men, its action sequences, which are well-crafted and fantastic, are not overly dramatized or gory. This doesn’t take away from its presentation or its ability to entertain. Mackenzie has created the best film of the year (so far).
