Hell or High Water is a new Texas bank robbery movie that’s really, really good. Chris Pine and Ben Foster play a pair brother bank robbers and Jeff Bridges (in crusty mode) plays a Texas Ranger out to stop them. Sounds kind of generic but is anything but. It’s a smart and remarkably funny movie for something that is a legit drama.
The movie is about robbing banks but for a good cause. Chris Pine is playing it low-key and hang-dog and Ben Foster is the loose cannon, the just-out-of-prison brother who shot his pa in an hunting accident (in a barn, somehow). The two are really good together and you want to root for them and their surprisingly smart plan (which unfolds on screen without the need for exposition).
But the two rangers, played by Jeff Bridges and Gil Birmingham, are so fun to watch that you root for them as well. Bridges is kind of doing what he’s been doing in a lot of movies lately – surly, drawling, old coot (as seen also in True Grit, RIPD, and Seventh Son). He’s great. His partner is played by Gil Birmingham, one of those recognizable-not-nameable actors who you see around. He’s playing a half-Comanche/Half-Mexican ranger who has a unique perspective on these events.
Birmingham brings an interesting take on the idea of land ownership that ties in with a theme of the movie. This is a West Texas that is dying… being bought up by banks and the people are struggling. There are oil derricks, foreclosure signs, and affordable rate loan signs everyone. This is a movie that’s just as much about hard-scramble desperation as it is about being a fun, dramatic flick… but it’s not preachy about it. Most of what it says, it says visibly or through natural dialog. It’s a real smart script shot well.
This is one of the better movies of the year and it came out of nowhere. I highly recommend it for anyone tired of big blockbuster films and who like a smart, cleverly written movie with actors playing both serious and funny dialog well.
Score: 88