Lawless: Southern-Bred Crime

Lawless

Directed By: John Hillcoat

Written By: Nick Cave, based on the novel The Wettest County in the World by Matt Bondurant

Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Tom Hardy, Jason Clarke, Guy Pearce, Jessica Chastain, Mia Wasikowska, and Gary Oldman

Director of Photography: Benoît Delhomme, Editor: Dylan Tichenor, Production Designer: Chris Kennedy, Original Music: Nick Cave and Warren Ellis

            For a period so rich in American history, there are surprisingly few movies that cover the history of bootlegging in the United States. Sure, you’ve got your 30s gangster films, but those films are about the gangsters themselves—their goals, values, what have you—and not really about the down and dirty business of making moonshine and distributing it. And especially considering its rich history in the South, I’m surprised that director John Hillcoat and writer Nick Cave are the first to really tackle this odd moment in our nation’s history, as they do in Lawless.

            Unfortunately, Lawless, for all its violence and occasional moments of inspiration, doesn’t seem much interested in the history, or anything really. Based on the novel The Wettest County in the World by Matt Bondurant (writing about his grandfather’s history, so there’s some truth mixed in there as they like to say), Lawless throws us into the moonshine days of Virginia and the battles between the producers (the lawless) and the law. It’s a film filled with testosterone, but it also doesn’t feel particularly inspired by much of anything, and lacks a real punch.

Prometheus: Origins of the Creature from the Space Lagoon

Prometheus

Directed By: Ridley Scott

Written By: Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof

Starring: Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Idris Elba, Guy Pearce, Logan Marshall-Green, and Patrick Wilson

Director of Photography: Dariusz Wolski, Editor: Peitro Scalia, Production Designer: Arthur Max, Original Music: Marc Streitenfeld

WARNING: Like my review for Cabin in the Woods, I plan on discussing Prometheus in full, without any consideration for what are considered “spoilers” If you are curious to see the film, just go see it. My opinion of whether I liked it or not shouldn’t be the factor. If you are curious to read on why I think the film functions as it does, without any consideration for hiding the aspects of the narrative, then read on. Also, I’m also going to spoil Lost.

            In 2010, the hit ABC series Lost came to an end with what many considered a crashing thud. For six seasons, audiences watched a show about constantly accumulating mysteries on an island. Lost fed its hungry fans with more and more—polar bears in jungles, buttons that saved the universe, alternate timelines—and then abandoned it all for a spiritual sit down with its characters, discarding the main reason that it originally drew viewers. For months before the finale, showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse warned their fans: “true fans” only care about their characters; the mysteries were irrelevant.

            Why this long primer on Lost, when the film of the week, and for many their most anticipated film of the summer, is a prequel to Alien? Because as much as critics will be discussing the craft of director Ridley Scott, Prometheus is assuredly a Damon Lindelof work. His hands are all over this film about a group of scientists traveling to a mysterious planet to find the origins of life. And in many ways, the faults of Prometheus lie in his blame (though Scott shouldn’t escape all the blame). 

Lockout: Against the Obvious Title

Lockout

Directed By: James Mather and Stephen St. Leger

Written By: James Mather, Stephen St. Leger, and Luc Besson, from an original idea by Besson.

Starring Guy Pearce, Maggie Grace, Peter Stormare, Joseph Gilgun, Lennie James, and Vincent Regan.

Director of Photography: James Mather, Editors: Camille Delamarre and Eamonn Power, Production Design: Romek Delmata, Original Music: Alexandre Azaria

            During the penultimate scene of Lockout, a high concept B-movie action flick, a character monologues to our hero, the grimy renegade Snow (Guy Pearce). “You’re all relics of a dead time!” he posits. This character (going nameless for spoiler sake) seems to simply be delivering plain dialogue that the screenplay requires in order to make him out to be the villain. Or it could be a meta-commentary on the whole feel of Lockout, which borrows heavily from the B-movies of the 1980s.

            The problem is, however, Lockout isn’t sure whether to fully embrace its own absurdity, and meanders between the two worlds. Produced by Luc Besson (The Fifth Element), Lockout may have fared better if it had been called Space Jail, as a number of other film critics have declared. Lockout certainly is a film destined for late night TV marathon status; it’s about a jail full of dangerous criminals, but the jail is in space! What else do you need to know? And while Lockout isn’t sure what it really wants to be, it manages to be a distractingly good time.