"Hell or High Water" (2016)

The Western genre is about as dead as an extra who catches a stray bullet from a Clint Eastwood character in the middle of an ill-fated shootout, letting out the glorious "Wilhelm scream" on his way to the ground. Or, you'll at least think that until you watch a movie like David Mackenzie and Taylor Sheridan's "Hell or High Water."

Directed by: David Mackenzie

Jake's rating: 8.7/10

Streaming: Free on Amazon Prime video (Ads included)

The idea of a place being labeled as a "flyover state" is a kitschy, cute way of something a bit more different, and maybe sinister. That, at it's best, this is a place that people from more prominent areas don't necessarily concern themselves with; at worst, these are places we have collectively left behind.

Texas native Taylor Sheridan understands that there are few places that fit this description (in both a positive and negative sense) than West Texas. This is the backdrop for "Hell or High Water," and his script, along with the excellent direction by David Mackenzie and cinematography by Giles Nuttgens form an incredible neo-western film that's a love letter to the area and it's people.

Toby and Tanner Howard are the beleaguered anti-hero bank robbers at the center of this movie, but their stories are probably well rooted in the hard realities of the film's real life setting. Two brothers from an impoverished upbringing who's only concrete assets (family property) are tied up in heavy debt to the local bank, and who's financial problems are exacerbated by the strain of medical bills that their mother's untimely (and eventually deadly) fight with cancer forced upon them.

To break this cycle of poverty, the petty criminals decide to make a jump up to the big leagues: high risk, high reward armed robberies of the very bank that's squeezing them dry on a mortgage that covers their property that they own. For a couple of good old boys from oil country, they employ a fairly genius strategy: rob these bank locations right as they open to avoid any problems with crowd control, and launder the cash through the local casino which they use to pay off the very bank that they've robbed.

This works on multiple levels as it's a smart tactic by the robbers, and also absolves them of any notion that they're committing any sort of serious crime. Near the end of the film they're forced to carry out a daring midday raid, and confronted with a civilian crowd who not only stands in their way but fights back, and the look on Pine's partially covered face says it all - that they're finally disabused of the idea that this is a victimless scheme that they're perpetrating.

Hot on their tails are Marcus Hamilton and Alberto Parker, two Texas Rangers with a snippy, sardonic interplay that's as fun as it proves to be extremely poignant. Hamilton (portrayed by the great Jeff Bridges) is the heart and soul of this pairing; he's an old, washed up lawman who's not quite ready to trade in his gun and badge for a fishing pole, and who's old-world values prove to be exactly why he's perfect for the job, and simultaneously destined to be pushed out of it as the world continues to change.

While Bridges is tremendous as always, you're not getting much more out of the performance that you haven't already seen from him; in fact, he could be accused of simply putting on his best Rooster Cogburn impersonation, which is both somewhat true and also perfectly fine. His partner Alberto (Gil Birmingham) provides the perfect foil both through performance and writing, as he's quick to clap back at Hamilton's snipes towards his Mexican/Native American heritage, and also good for an excellent monologue on just how far reaching and deep the film's themes of systemic, societal oppression run.

These two different storylines of robbers and their pursuers both have different merits, but they support the overall themes of poverty and class warfare exceptionally well, and they tie together in an interesting and satisfying way at the end of the movie. This couldn't have been done without four great performances, and amazing writing by Sheridan - Ben Foster's Tanner particularly stands out as a lesser known actor who provides an unhinged and simmering portrayal of a hard man formed by hard lands.

If the symbolism is a bit on the nose at times ("In debt?" posters, and veteran produced graffiti was maybe a bit much for me), you can count on the dialogue and these performances to drive the ideologies home in a more organic way. This is of course just a small blip on an otherwise extremely professionally made and carefully crafted film that both breathes life into the neo-western genre, and provides hope that the western on the whole still has plenty of hits left to play in the 21st century and beyond.

Anyone who like Westerns, either old school or otherwise will want to check it out if they haven't already. With guys like Sheridan in the mix, I'm confident the genre is still in good hands.