Lawless (2012)

Set in Depression-era Franklin County, Virginia, a bootlegging gang is threatened by a new deputy and other authorities who want a cut of their profits.

Director:

John Hillcoat

Writers:

Nick Cave (screenplay), Matt Bondurant (novel)

Stars:

Tom Hardy, Shia LaBeouf, Guy Pearce

1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Shia LaBeouf	...	Jack Bondurant
Tom Hardy	...	Forrest Bondurant
Jason Clarke	...	Howard Bondurant
Guy Pearce	...	Charlie Rakes
Jessica Chastain	...	Maggie Beauford
Mia Wasikowska	...	Bertha Minnix
Dane DeHaan	...	Cricket Pate
Chris McGarry	...	Danny
Tim Tolin	...	Mason Wardell
Gary Oldman	...	Floyd Banner
Lew Temple	...	Deputy Henry Abshire
Marcus Hester	...	Deputy Jeff Richards
Bill Camp	...	Sheriff Hodges
Alex Van	...	Tizwell Minnix
Noah Taylor	...	Gummy Walsh

Storyline

In 1931, in Franklyn County, Virginia, Forrest Bondurant is a legend as immortal after surviving the war. Together with his brothers Howard and the coward Jack, the Bondurant family has a distillery and bootlegging business. When the corrupt District Attorney Mason Wardell arrives in Franklyn with the unscrupulous Special Deputy Charles Rakes, the Bondurant family refuses to pay the required bribe to the authorities. Rakes pursuits the brothers and unsuccessfully tries to find their distillery. Meanwhile Forrest hires the waitress Maggie, a woman with a hidden past in Chicago, and they fall in love with each other. Jack courts the preacher's daughter Bertha Minnix and deals a great load of alcoholic liquor with the powerful gangster Floyd Banner. Jack shows off in Franklyn attracting the attention of Rakes that finds the location of their distillery. When he kills the crippled Cricket Pate, the locals join forces to face the corrupt authorities.

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Plot Keywords:

Bootlegging | Virginia | Deputy | Gangster | Preacher | 

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Taglines:

When the law became corrupt, outlaws became heroes.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong bloody violence, language and some sexuality/nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [jp]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 August 2012 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Promised Land

Filming Locations:

Woodbury, Georgia USA

Box Office

Budget:

$26,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$10,001,566 (USA) (31 August 2012)

Gross:

$37,397,291 (USA) (21 November 2012)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Benaroya Pictures, FilmNation Entertainment, Annapurna Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

116 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital Datasat SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Ryan Gosling, Scarlett Johansson, and Michael Shannon were originally slated to top line the project together with Shia LaBeouf.

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Goofs

The flowers at Cricket's funeral (ranunculus, wax flower, French anemones) would likely not have been available in the rural mountains of Virginia at the time. They would have likely used wildflowers such as goldenrod and queen anne's lace.

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Quotes

Maggie Beauford: [to Forrest Bondurant] Isn't that just like you to believe your own damn legend?

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Connections

Featured in Chelsea Lately: Episode #6.129 (2012)
A clip of the movie featuring guest Shia LeBeouf is shown.

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Soundtracks

"Fire and Brimstone"
Written by Fred Lincoln Wray, Jr.
Performed by The Bootleggers

User Reviews

Something's went wrong

'Lawless' is definitely a great film but there's something missing.

The acting is really strong; Tom Hardy's performance is probably his best so far. His voice is so different to his normal voice which really highlights how he has worked hard on his performance. I was really surprised by Shia LaBeouf's performance, he's never really impressed me but he gave a great performance here. He really proved that he could do some proper acting in the future and hopefully move away from the 'Transformers' series. Mia Wasikowska and Jessica Chastain both perform well but their roles are wasted here. They have no real purpose in the film and are merely there as love interests. It wouldn't have been such an issue if they had gotten any actress for these roles but they instead chose two of the best rising stars with huge amounts of talent. Guy Pierce is outstanding here but his role becomes almost comical towards the end. He gives a great performance though and is quite disturbing. Gary Oldman gives a really good performance but has only 5 minutes screen time! It seems like such a waste, it would have been interesting to see his character included in the plot a lot more.

Overall this film was fantastic but there was a few things that director John Hillcoat could have improved that would have made this film truly brilliant, such as giving more characters some crucial screen time. The violence was not really an issue; I don't think it diverted the film away from anything which is good. It contained the right amount of violence for the film and shouldn't put anyone off from watching this.