Hell or High Water

Now for something totally different than Moonlight...

Hell or High Water is a movie I don't think a lot of people saw in 2016. It's a totally original script in a world full of reboots and sequels and it manages to be both incredibly genuine with a good script as well as action filled and suspenseful. I've heard people respond to other people complaining about the lack of original movies these days and they always pointed to Hell or High Water in 2016. I really have to agree with them 100%.

Hell or High Water follows the story of two brothers in West Texas by the names of Toby and Tanner. They hatch a plan to rob a series of banks and build up a stable amount of money to keep the ranch formerly owned by their recently deceased mother. Their plan is to keep the money intake just low enough to keep the feds out of it and do it in a way that they cannot be traced.

Toby (played by Chris Pine) is the more straight laced one who doesn't has never really had much of a run in with the law and just wants to set his family up for financial security in the future. Whereas Tanner (played by Ben Foster) is more of a risk taker and is an ex con, more willing to use violence and get the job done one way or another.

The two of them are being hunted by a Texas Ranger by the name of Marcus Hamilton (played by Jeff Bridges). Hamilton is on the verge of retirement but wants one last hurrah before he turns in his gun and his badge. He is also incredibly racist for some reason.

He has a partner (played by Gil Birmingham) who is part Native American, part Mexican, and of course the entire time Marcus is just making all these really racially insensitive jokes the entire time.

There are other characters in the film but the movie mainly centers around both pairs as they travel throughout West Texas in this game of cat and mouse.

If I had to describe this movie in two word, it would just be, Straight forward. In the simplest of terms, it's Cops versus Robbers and its just a romp.

All the characters in the film are entertaining, they are compelling and they are well developed by the end of the movie. I would almost say they're almost too straight forward. Again I'm going to point to the Honest Trailer of the 2017 Oscars because they really don't have a lot to say about this film beyond it being just straight forward and having absolutely no chance of winning Best Picture.

Hell or High Water I think was 2016's Sicario. I'm finding that every year seems to have at least one film that is a pretty great action flick but at the same time is a pretty great and well done film. In 2013 it was Captain Phillips, in 2014 it was American Sniper, in 2015 it was Sicario, and now in 2016 it was Hell or High Water.

Like I said in my review of Moonlight, a lot of it comes down to personal preference when it comes to top picks for Oscar season. Hell or High Water appeals to the action heads like myself. I enjoyed this movie immensely, probably more than Moonlight and La La Land because it had both great action and great performances from Jeff Bridges, Ben Foster, and Chris Pine. Just because it's got a lot of action doesn't mean that good performances don't come out of it and Hell or High Water is a great example of that.

Ben Foster and Chris Pine play off each other very well. Like I mentioned before, Chris Pine is your straight laced guy who has never been very violent or had any run ins with the law. He's also the straight man with the more compelling and relatable story in this pair. A lot of people could see themselves in Chris Pine's shoes. He's the voice of reason.

Chris Pine actually surprised me in this film because he's usually so well known for his big blockbuster films like Star Trek, Jack Ryan Shadow Recruit, and soon Wonder Woman. Hell or High Water showed that he could actually act and there's potential for more serious roles there.

Ben Foster, who has shown he can act really well in past films but was starting to disappoint me recently, especially in movies like Warcraft, plays a totally different character in this movie and plays off Chris Pine's straight man very well. Tanner is the loud, obnoxious, and devil may care attitude brother. He part of the reason this movie is so entertaining.

These two brothers in any other situation would be considered the bad guys but because they keep to a code and they are robbing banks for a reason, they play it like a Bonnie and Clyde hero complex where you almost want them to get away with this money.

A similar dynamic plays out between Jeff Bridges and Gil Birmingham. Birmingham's character is a little more reserved and the one you relate to more while Bridge's character is a little more of a wild card.

The two sparing against each other works really well, especially when people start dying because the movie allows you to get to know these character pretty well and the reactions when people start dying are really great and show off the acting range of all four actors.

There's not a lot to say about Hell or High Water besides it's pretty damn entertaining. I would say that if you're comparing it to the other Oscar films I've watched so far, Hell or High Water probably has the least amount of substance. There's a little bit of a message about banks, treatment of Native Americans, and some other stuff, but overall this is just a really well made and well acted action movie.

With a run time of about 102 minutes you will definitely not feel like this is a long movie at all. The acting, the action, and the story really carries the audience through it pretty quickly and you'll just enjoy yourself while watching it. It may not be the best movie out of the Oscar picks from 2016, but it might be the most entertaining out of the ones that I've watched... I have to watch La La Land again to make that argument. But when I say it's something totally different from Moonlight, I really do mean it.

This might be a short review but I'm finding it hard to find bad things about this film. I can just say you're in for a fun ride.

But those are my thoughts on Hell or High Water. What did you think? Did you enjoy this film? Where does it rank among the other Oscar films? I think by the end of this I'm going to make a list of all the Oscar films that were nominated for Best picture and rank them. I don't know when but I want to do that soon. Let me know your thoughts and put them in the comment section below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @cmhaugen24 as well as send me your requests for films that I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

I'll leave you with this. Apparently Jeff Bridges can sing... who knew. Enjoy!