Review: Hell or High Water

The West Texan town in which the blazingly good film Hell or High Water is set seems a stereotypically sleepy town. Look closer and its bareness reflects the state of its scarce population. Signs like "Closing Down" and "Debt Relief" litter the streets. "Three tours in Iraq but no bailout for people like us" is graffitied on one side of a building. This is a town where people have lost jobs, where they've been swindled out of the real values of their homes and property, where poverty is destined to be passed down from generation to generation.

So it only seems both surprising and justified when two men stage an early morning robbery in a branch of the Texas Midland Bank. It's daring and not a little panicked, especially considering the was-it-worth-it haul of small-denomination bills. Yet there's a method to the madness of the two men, soon revealed to be brothers Toby (Chris Pine) and Tanner (Ben Foster). As Texas Ranger Marcus (Jeff Bridges) susses out to his partner Alberto (Gil Birmingham), these here boys have been hitting a series of small banks, all mysteriously branches of the same bank, in order to hit a accumulate a specific sum of money. The fact that the robbers have only taken unmarked bills from the register makes it hardly worthwhile for the bank to press any charges, especially since there aren't any surveillance cameras to help identify the thieves.

Of course, Marcus is right - Toby, the soft-spoken mastermind of the robberies, is on a mission to steal enough money in order to pay off the debt on his ranch in order to hold on to the property, which has been discovered to have oil on it, and ensure that his two boys won't have to grow up poor and in need of money like he and his brother did. The delicious irony is that the bank is being paid back with their own money.

As thrilling as it is to watch Toby and the hotheaded Tanner pull off their heists, there's an unshakeable sense that in securing the future of the next generation, they are also sealing their own fates. "I never met nobody that got away with anything," Tanner tells Toby and, with Marcus and Alberto tracking them down, it's all but certain that blood will be shed.

One of the great things about Hell or High Water is the ease with which it balances its numerous elements - crime caper, neo-noir, modern Western, socioeconomic commentary, family drama, dark satire. This is a film that could have gone awry in a blink of an eye if the commentary had been too heavy-handed or if the brothers' motivations had been less complicated, but actor-turned-screenwriter Taylor Sheridan (Sicario) and director David Mackenzie (Starred Up) are so tuned into the rhythms of the material that Hell or High Water becomes a brutally poetic elegy that recalls the Coen Brothers' Blood Simple and No Country for Old Men as well as Michael Mann's Heat.

Inevitability and duality are recurrent motifs in the film. Though possessed of contrasting temperaments, Tanner and Alberto share a clear-eyed acceptance of their fates based on a cynical but realistic understanding of how the world works for people like them. Both Toby and Marcus, on the other hand, want to alter their courses for their own well-beings. Toby is doing it for his children whilst Marcus, who is on the verge of retirement, doesn't want to let go of his job. "I don't know how you're going to survive without someone to outsmart," Alberto notes at one point in the film. Most of all, despite the friction between the two pairs of men - it was Toby who had to care for their ailing mother while Tanner was in jail; Marcus' relentless teasing of Alberto's Indian and Mexican heritage - it's ultimately evident that there's a significant amount of affection between the duos.

All contributions are top-notch, from Giles Nuttgens' eloquent compositions to the twangy but somber scoring by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis to the nuanced performances from Pine, Foster, Bridges, and Birmingham.

Hell or High Water

Directed by: David Mackenzie

Written by: Taylor Sheridan

Starring: Jeff Bridges, Chris Pine, Ben Foster, Gil Birmingham, Katie Mixon, Dale Dickey