Hell or High Water (2016)

The phrase ‘game-changer’ is overused these days, but one film that I think really deserves that title is Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven (1992). To date Eastwood’s last western, Unforgiven seemed to be the last word on the entire genre, turning all of the familiar tropes inside out and leaving the few westerns that have succeeded it looking redundant; while there have been successful westerns since 1992, these films often feel more like tributes to older movies rather than statements in themselves. Hell or High Water looks to change all of that.

The plot is beautiful in its simplicity. Brothers Toby and Tanner Howard (Chris Pine and Ben Foster) are on a bank-robbing spree in West Texas, and Texas Rangers Marcus and Alberto (Jeff Bridges and Gil Birmingham) are out to get them. And that’s it. But it’s the telling of the tale that really sets Hell or High Water apart, and the sparseness of the plot gives us ample time to admire the well-crafted characters. The brothers are interesting; at first you think that Tanner is the crazy one and Toby is more level-headed, but as time goes on it becomes clear that they have more in common than it first appeared. The rangers are good too, a pair of straightforward old-timers trying to make sense of a world that seems to be leaving them behind. Special praise must go to Jeff Bridges as Marcus, who appears old and worn-out but is still sharp as a tack when it matters most. Death hovers over the film; although we are almost certain from the start that at least one of the main characters won’t make it to the end credits, this does not lessen the impact of the inevitable bloody showdown between them.

But the plot is only half the story, and you could say that Hell or High Water is also about America itself. Director David Mackenzie takes us off the beaten track and into a world we don’t often see in big movies, a rural America ravaged by poverty and debt, where no one has any sympathy for the banks that are being robbed. It’s definitely the same world as films like Unforgiven, but we get the sense that it is very much on its last legs. The dusty highways and earthy fields are filmed and photographed really well, and the soundtrack is laced with appropriately twangy guitars.

Hell or High Water successfully brings the western into the 21^st Century, and will hopefully spark a resurgence for the once-mighty genre. If I had to describe it in one word I would say ‘meaty’; meaty like a steak and just as satisfying.