On the Couch

DVD REVIEW

Lawless ****
Directed by: John Hilcoat
Starring: Tom Hardy,  Shia LaBeouf, Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Guy Pearce

 

Total Recall **
Directed by: Len Wiseman
Starring: Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, Bryan Cranston, Bill Nighy

When Tom Hardy can menace an entire movie while wearing a cardigan and doing little more than mumbling and being (mostly) polite and still not be the best acting turn on show you know you’re on to a winner.

So it is with Lawless, John Hilcoat’s take on the real-life story of the Bondurant brothers, a family of moonshiners who plied their boozy wares in Franklin County, Virginia during the Prohibition.

Topping Hardy’s brooding, brilliant performance is Jessica Chastain, sorry… Golden Globe-winner Jessica Chastain, who co-stars as Maggie, a former Chicago showgirl who finds herself in Franklin working for the Bondurants in their bar/petrol station/HQ after city life becomes too much for her.

Her relationship with Forrest (Hardy), the oldest of the brothers, forms the emotional backbone of the movie. The more action-packed meat, however, stems from the boys’ refusal to kow-tow to a crooked big city cop, Charley Rakes (Guy Pearce), who swans into their two-horse town and demands a piece of the action from their illicit hooch business.

While the rest of the Franklin moonshiners fall in line with the new regime, the Bondurants dig their heels in and when Rakes beats the hell out of the youngest brother, Jack (Shia LaBoeuf), the sabre-rattling evolves to acts of outward aggression and a booze-fuelled war breaks out.

Beautifully shot – the wilds of Virginia make for some stunning, stark landscapes – Lawless is the second collaboration between Hilcoat and renowned singer/songwriter Nick Cave. As with his music, Cave’s flair for writing about the darker side of life is obvious and Forrest, Howard (Jason Clarke) and Jack are brilliantly imagined characters, as are Maggie, Rakes and the various incidental hicks and low-lives that populate the story.

While Shia LaBoeuf makes a good account of himself as the smartest but sappiest Bondurant, Lawless is Hardy and Chastain’s movie. Impossible to ignore whenever either is on-screen, their burgeoning relationship is beautifully played out.

The old-fashioned storytelling is pitted with moments of graphic violence befitting the fellas involved but it never feels gratuitous. Lawless may not be to everyone’s taste but its high quality is hard to deny.

From an unforgettable movie to a film you’d want to forget, Les Wiseman’s reboot of the ’90s cult classic, Total Recall.
This time about Colin Farrell takes up Arnie’s old role as the average Joe at the centre of things. Doug Quaid is a working stiff with a beautiful missus (Kate Beckinsale). He spends the few moments he has free in his work-filled day wondering how he got so lucky as to meet, charm and keep such a catch before heading off down a gigantic hole in the ground to work for ‘The Man’.

While keeping the general “the future’s probably going to suck for most of us” vibe of the original, Wiseman’s version dispenses with the whole mission to Mars aspect in favour of a more class-orientated yarn that plays to the world’s current economic state.

After global chemical warfare has left most of the planet uninhabitable, what remains of society is split between the United Federation of Britain and The Colony (Australia). The poor schmucks with nothing in their pockets but fluff and fingernails get to live Down Under and commute daily via The Fall – a gigantic lift shaft through the centre of the world – to work in the UFB. It’s like Upstairs Downstairs played out on a really, really big stage.

While a resistance of sorts tries to bomb the government into giving The Colony a fairer share than they’re getting, Doug’s problems are smaller – he can’t sleep due to a weird nightmare starring a mysterious woman (Jessica Biel) – and all he really wants is a bit of excitement in his life.

A slightly sozzled visit to Rekall – a company that implants memories of your choice – turns out to be a worm can-opening event  for Quaid and, instead of getting the fantasy of being a spy, the process seems to unlock a plethora of ass-kicking skills and sets the military on his trail for unknown reasons.

What follows aspires to be a identity-bending action romp like Vanilla Sky with more lasers and ass-whoopins. What it actually is, is a slightly confusing, occasionally clever and exciting flick that loses its way for the final third and suffers irredeemably from Star Wars-style green-screen-itis.

The three leads, Farrell, Beckinsale and Biel, are nice to look at but don’t pull their weight dramatically. The supporting cast that includes Brian Cranston as a villainous leader of the UFB and Bill Nighy as the resistance leader do what they can with a scant script but… few are the silk purses made from sow’s ears…

Total Recall starts well enough. The oppressive future world is well established and there’s a few funny tips of the cap to its predecessor. Once the story gets underway, however, things go downhill fast, in a way only Star Wars fans could appreciate.
Any shred of tension, initially garnered from seeing actual humans in jeopardy gives way to an animated chase scene that pretty much lasts till the credits.

It all looks great but it’s about as believable as Arnie’s acting in the original. It’s an unfortunate turn for what could’ve been a true classic bit of sci-fi nonsense.