Hell or High Water
- Braden Turk
- Sep 18, 2016
- 2 min read
"Then why in the hell did you agree to do it?"
"'Cause you asked, little brother."
Hell or High Water is a new American-western crime drama film directed by David Mackenzie, and follows two brothers- one a frequent criminal and the other an ex-husband/father- as they go on a bank robbing spree in Texas (for a specific reason I will not spoil here), all the while being pursued by two partners in law enforcement.
Now, seeing that description (and also watching a short trailer), I was expecting Hell or High Water to be a "pretty good" western drama film, with some decent action, average acting, and a solid story; overall, I just expected to be entertained.
Instead, I got taught, smart action, absolutely amazing performances, and a heavy focus on fantastically-realized characters and story. Let's break it down.
The performances. Good lord almighty (insert hallelujahs here), the performances: to say that they were “great” would be an understatement. To put it simply: I did not see Chris Pine, Ben Foster, or Jeff Bridges, but, instead, I saw real, realistic people who seemed like they were ripped right from real life and slapped into a screenplay. I didn’t sense any actors- I sensed two polar opposite yet still connected brothers, a cop on the verge of retirement who has to do just one more case, and, overall, just real, genuine people. This is no ordinary talent: this is a feat rarely accomplished by anyone, let alone actors.
Surprisingly enough though, Hell or High Water barely focuses on the action, but instead on the (previously-mentioned) characters and story, and what a story it is: there is barely any quote-on-quote “downtime” within this film, even though it only sits at a run-time of one hour and 42 minutes. That isn’t to say that it’s a “white-knuckled, edge of your seat thriller,” (it’s quite the opposite at times really) but that is to definitely say that Hell or High Water is- more or less- the complete opposite of boring. It’s endlessly intriguing, keeping you interested enough but never over-exaggerating things to any sort of ridiculous point. Or, in simpler terms, Hell or High Water is the textbook definition of how to structure a film (well, not to that extent, but you get the point).
And that’s really it. At this point in the review, I normally dive into the either abundant or not-at-all-present negatives of the film, but in Hell or High Water’s case, there aren’t any downsides to do so in.
9/10- While not a completely perfect, literal “godsend” of all of cinema itself, I would be lying if I said anything less than fantastic remarks for a fantastic film; Hell or High Water isn’t just a “pretty good” crime drama, it’s an amazing crime drama, one that borders on being a masterpiece and is most definitely one of the best films of 2016… so far.
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