I've been hesitant about seeing this for a while. I saw a trailer for it when it first came out and I wasn't convinced. It's looked like a modern western with some half-baked social commentary thrown in. Jeff Bridges isn't immune to being in bad movies. It's from the same screenwriter as Sicario which I think used the Southwest setting to mask a lot of weaker elements. However, the high ratings (98% Rotten Tomatoes), legitimate Oscar buzz, and praise from at least one friend convinced me to give it a try.
On the surface, it's all very familiar. Two brothers (Chris Pine and Ben Foster) start robbing some small town banks in Texas to get their family out of financial trouble. Jeff Bridges and Gil Birmingham are the sheriffs trying to catch them. There's very limited interaction between the two pairs, so the movie plays like two movies being weaved together. Pine and Foster are a classic bandit pairing. Pine is the reasonable one. Foster is the loose cannon. They need each other to pull this off, and early on, they accept the likely consequences of their actions. They are brothers and there's a long history to their relationship. They bicker, they fight, and they joke around. It's all sold in the details of how they interact though. Almost the same can be said of Bridges and Birmingham. Bridges is about to retire and takes on this case as his one last thrill before a life of boredom. He's verbally abusive to his partner in a benign way that Birmingham barely even registers anymore. They aren't friends, but they are familiar and comfortable with each other, just like family. It's how those two duos interact that sells the movie. In a lot of ways, Hell or High Water is more similar to the Before series than a traditional "cops and robbers" film.
The West Texas and Oklahoma setting is fully realized. The characters all have guns, drive trucks, and carry intelligence behind their southern accents. I don't know if it's the "real" Texas but it felt like a real place. That's all that matters. The film is shot beautifully. It's not all "landscape porn" of sunsets. Texas is dirty and run down in places while also very pretty to look at in the same scene. Everything looks so big and open. It's not difficult at all to see this as the Wild West not that long ago.
The social commentary wasn't as overbearing as I feared. At this point, I am bored by "banks are evil" stories*, but the film does good work establishing the incompetence of the bank(s) being robbed and explaining the no-win situation the brothers are caught in. It's nuanced in a way most stories about this are not.
*Much like I'd get bored of Russian villains in 1980s movies. At some point, it's just lazy writing.
That's probably the best word for the film overall: nuanced. It's a collection of small moments and character work that come together better than any one part would suggest. I would love to see Bridges in the awards discussion for his casual-brilliance throughout. The ending is just about perfect for the tone of the film. There's no way I can appropriately sell anyone on this film without just seeing it. So, see it.
Verdict (?): Strongly Recommend
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