“Hell or High Water” is a remarkably entertaining film that opened during the tail end of this summer. It was written by James Sheridan, the same screenwriter behind last year’s stellar “Sicario.” Both films share a few superficial similarities. They’re crime-thrillers. They’re set in modern-day rural America. (You know, the part of the country most Hollywood writers vaguely recall driving through.) They’re both remarkably politically astute. But “Sicario” was a pressure-cooker, sucking the air out of your lungs and replacing it with pure dread. “Hell or High Water” is the exact opposite. It is in no particular hurry to have anything happen at all. This is the drifting tumbleweed of modern-day westerns.
And that’s great. The slow pace allows Sheridan to indulge in his love of rat-a-tat banter, unencumbered by a byzantine, fast-moving plot structure. It allows him to explore the quieter moments in the lives of his leads. And it allows him to build up a roster of some the most entertaining side characters outside of a Coen brother’s flick. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that his script is a Dickensian portrayal of western Texas, populated by a cadre of fully realized, three-dimensional characters; the surly waitress our leads order from can probably only express anger. But damn, does she express it well.
The story that does happen, when Sheridan wants it to, involves a pair of mismatched bank-robbing brothers working their way through rural Texas. Toby Howard (Chris Pine) is the level-headed, quiet leader. Tanner Howard (Ben Foster) is the older, volatile ex-con that seems to be going along to create chaos as much as anything else. And as their story develops, Sheridan nimbly doles out information about the brother’s backstory and their very well thought-out bank robbing scheme. He even makes them sympathetic, but not sympathetic enough to excuse the bloodshed their crime spree results in. Sheridan might empathize with his characters, but he can be as moralistic and unyielding as the west Texas sand when it counts. I won’t spoil the ending for anyone, but it is clear that the actions these brothers took are going to haunt them for some time.
Admittedly, I give a lot of credit to Sheridan, and he deserves it. But so do the phenomenal players, who all sink their teeth into his crisp dialogue. Chris Pine fairly successfully ditches any Hollywood leading man pretensions to play a has-been blue-collar criminal. Meanwhile, Ben Foster ably walks the fine line between brotherly belligerence and psychotic assholery. And Jeff Bridges and Gil Birmingham both give fine performances as the Texas Rangers somewhat hot on these two brothers’ tails.
While director David Mackenzie never achieves the cinematic highs that Villeneuve wrung out of Sheridan’s script for “Sicario,” he still proves himself a capable fit for the material. To his credit, it is much easier to create an intense film than a laconic one. Admittedly, Mackenzie relies too much on obvious musical cues to carry scene transitions, and his cinematographer shoots some of the most beautiful landscapes in America in some of the blandest ways possible. Under Mackenzie’s direction, there were several times when the film felt like a long episode of a cable TV show. But it is a great cable TV show, where you would would want to get a beer with literally any character on screen.
Ultimately, don’t let the art film label scare you away from this one — that just got attached to the film because its budget was under $50 million. “Hell or High Water” is funny, thrilling and occasionally even touching. Overall this film is just a remarkably entertaining, straightforward good time at the movies.
Contact Raymond Maspons at [email protected].