Starring Shia LaBeouf, Tom Hardy, Guy Pearce, Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman and Dane DeHaan.Directed by John Hillcoat.
★★½
Tom Hardy has star power and he exudes it here. He's Forrest, one of the three Bondurant brothers, hillbilly moonshiners who refused to pay off the law during Prohibition. Forrest is the brains of the bunch. Brawn, too, though older brother Howard (Jason Clarke) is capable of delivering his own psycho butt-whippin'.
But the main protagonist is the sensitive youngest brother (Shia LaBeouf), who wants to be part of the business. He idolizes gangsters and puts up their newspaper clippings like a 10-year-old girl and her One Direction posters. Gary Oldman makes an appearance as one such gangster, but his part's so small, it's more of an extended cameo.
The villain here is Guy Pearce as a creepy federal officer from Chicago who wants his piece and who will kill to get it.
There's a stop-and-start lurching to the pace that subtracts from the enjoyment. I really wanted to love this movie but must admit it was merely okay.
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