“Hell Or High Water” is a transformative motion picture experience in the way most dramas can’t capture: which is the essence of what it means to convey emotion. The new rootin-tootin, shoot-em-up raw doggin film from director David Mackenzie and writer Taylor Sheridan is as close to near perfect cinema as you can ask for.
Modeling itself after many classic westerns (sort of) we open up in the rural landscape of Western Texas, the kind of place where tumbleweed slicks through unnoticed and busy afternoons don’t come by often. Which is the perfect motivation for a pair of bank robbing brothers, Tanner and Toby Howard (Ben Foster and Chris Pine). They have a smart model in place: arrive early in the morning when folks won’t be in to cash their checks, take the loot, and get the hell out. We get this feeling of quickness in the opening sequences as we watch the duo hold up three different banks all before lunchtime. It’s almost exhilarating as it’s scary to watch unfold, a testament to the many bank robbing scenes that are shot with so much precision that it’s easy to forget you're watching a movie.
Foster shines as Tanner, the kind of redneck hillbilly who prefers Dr. Pepper over Dr. Pipp - (“only assholes drink Dr. Pipp” he murmurs) - and is reckless in his behavior as the nut of the pair, who shoots first to ask questions later. In contrast his brother, Toby (Pine doing exceptional work) is the brains of the operation, pinpointing exactly which branches of banks to rob, how to do it, and where to launder the money. His backstory is all the more touching as he struggles with his family woes, and he just buried his mother a couple weeks back. The two brothers feel as though the only way to stop the bank from foreclosing on their mothers ranch (which is a gold mine for the oil companies) is to go on a crime spree and steal the money themselves.
Hot on their trails is the gunslingin, almost retired, old crass sheriff, Marcus Hamilton (Jeff Bridges) and his partner, Alberto Parker (Gil Birmingham) of cherokee descent. The two are your textbook example of how buddy cops should be. Hamilton often times insults Parker of his heritage, poking fun at his expense. “One day you will miss my insults, it’s what you will remember when you look over my grave and smile” he tells him. These are the kind of lines that Bridges character says with so much grit, you can’t help but smile at the vivid performance and how distinctly the character is stooped in reality. Hamilton always seems to be one step behind the brothers, as they are clean in their execution, but still finds ways to use his “white man inhibition” to hopefully track down the pesky pair.
“Hell Or High Water” doesn’t leap bounds in order to accomplish anything new. The structure is all the same in most of these movies. Yet, Mackenzie perfectly captures the spirit of crime, fear, action, drama and brotherly love in the glistening landscape of Texas to which the setting feels completely exotic for being so authentic. Both Foster and Pine have heightened to the top of their careers and neither of them have been in a movie this good. While Bridges does a solid job conveying layers to his troubled, charismatic, persona. Some of the best parts about Hamilton, is that we don’t understand him, and that’s a good thing.
With a troubled summer that failed to produce one single outlier that defied my expectations, here is a film that is worthy of such praise. “Hell Or High Water” is a classic crime-caper that is equal parts thrilling and dramatic. Not only will the final ten minutes be the best you will see in a theater for quite some time, this is one of the best movies of the year period. A
