Movie Review: Hell or High Water
Hell or High Water succeeding in conning me, an innocent bystander, within the first five minutes of the film. As the screen lights up, viewers are immediately catapulted into a high-speed, ski-masked getaway – settling in for two hours of aggressive antics between a pair of stubble-faced, sooty, Levi-swagged, mustachioed criminals.
Or so we thought. Hell or High Water isn’t going to give you a cheap thrill ride and send you home packing. This movie’s more than a Robin Hood-turns-horse opera, and these West Texas bank robbers aren’t just your go-to, shoot-em-up, bad-boy bandits. These guys – Toby and Tanner Howard – are brothers. And what’s more? They’re brothers with a well-thought-out plan to rob a number of banks to halt Texas Midland’s impending foreclosure on their family home. “Which banks are the Tanner brothers planning to rob to pay off Texas Midland before the foreclosure?“ you might ask. The answer? Texas Midland.
Oh, and there’s another kicker: Naturally, these brothers don’t want to lose their house. But what’s better than keeping the home they grew up in? Keeping the home, which they happen to know is sitting on oil, from which they can make a fortune.
Nearly immediately, we come to find out that this felonious duo comprises a classic case of good-cop/bad-cop (well, good-robber/bad-robber). Toby Howard (played by Chris Pine) is the mastermind of the stickup operation, strategizing which banks to hit. He determines what days and at what time in the morning they’ll hit the banks, as well as how much cash to grab, and in what bill stacks from the tellers. His plan, he hopes, is nearly foolproof – or at least less foolhardy than your average bank robber’s throw-on-a-mask-and-grab-the-cash plan. Toby knows that robbing the banks in this fashion will keep the law off their tail for a while (or at least as long as he needs, which is only a few days).
The inaugural bank robbery doesn’t go perfectly. But it works well enough; after all, they weren’t looking for praise, they were looking for cash. We see that Toby’s the methodical, goal-oriented one, whose sights are set on providing a future for the kids he’s been a deadbeat to. Tanner (Ben Foster), on the other hand, is a maniac. In it for the money, sure; but Tanner’s in it for the gruesome glory, as well.
If Pine and Foster weren’t born to play brothers, they were born to play the Tanner brothers. Weather-worn skin, bright eyes, and sun-lit healthy heads of hair aside, not only do they actually resemble one another, they truly grasp each brother’s mindset, and play off of it to a tee. In Toby Howard, Pine finds the sturdy, rugged, albeit rumpled grownup he was born to play. I can’t say he toyed with a range of emotions here, but he finds himself at home in the role of a man raw with regret, out of time and luck, but with an ambition we can feel from a mile way. He’s angry. But he’s smart, and he knows the way out.
Foster, on the other hand, is stone-cold frightening in this film. Surrounded by a backdrop of crumbling diners and endless acreage, Foster’s piercing glare and unapologetic thirst for violence is unyielding. Also unyielding is Jeff Bridges, who, as the lawman Marcus Hamilton, has perfected the slow saunter and candid contempt for everything around him as he readies for retirement. Bridges excels here, and though we spend much of the film wondering who exactly we’re supposed to root for, he seems as good a contender as any – and that’s the beauty of it. With that, Marcus’ partner Alberto Parker (played by Gil Birmingham, who finessed the heck out of his role) provides an oft-needed anecdote to Bridges’ weary stride. I found myself wanting to see more of him, as he’s taking the countless wisecracks, and doling them right back.
You’re in good hands with this film. Director David Mackenzie will guide your front-row tour of the Podunk towns that much of America forgot. You’ll hop into a rusty old pickup, pass a few tractors as the drivers tip their hats, and mosey past sign after sleazy sign suggesting that you may be in debt, and could use a loan from X or Y bank (the banks are the ultimate bad guys in this film, after all). Your Americana flannel will be covered in dust, but that’s okay, because you’ll be lulled by a stellar soundtrack including Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, with some Waylon Jennings thrown in there, for good measure. By the time you leave the theater, you’ll be craving a chicken-fried steak, some mashed taters, and a side of Granny’s green beans, and I’m fairly certain you’ll still be thinking about Hell or High Water.
Hell or High Water is a movie that grows on you. I’ll fess up and say that, immediately upon the credits rolling, I felt underwhelmed. But the more I thought about it, the more I became excited over this story of family – the family you choose and the family you’re stuck with, the intricacies of friendship, and modern-day money problems.
Mandi Ruffner
