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Strongly made genre films are worth praising for the simple fact that they’re harder to make than they would initially appear. A dusty neo-western about a pair of brothers who rob banks in the mid-Texas area while being cashed by a gruff lawman? I’m sure you’ve seen it before, and I’m sure we’ll see it again. Doesn’t change the fact that Hell or High Water is one of the stronger recent entries, a solidly entertaining and engaging crime saga that proves the western isn’t down on the mat just yet.
The strongest thing about Hell or High Water is a penchant for evading the obvious scenes of gun fights and carnage in favor of quiet, contemplative moments of character study. Not that there’s no gun fights, it just saves those for the very end when the characters are finally painted into a corner with no other recourse. Prior to the brutal climax, Hell or High Water shows us the forces and desperation causing these brothers to rob a particular banking branch, and where exactly all of that money will eventually be laundered.
Hounding the brothers throughout this ordeal is a US Marshall a few weeks away from retirement. Jeff Bridges has played gruff before, but here he sounds like talking dip that makes several casually racist jokes at an astonishing per-minute clip. Bridges is a veteran performer with a litany of strong, entertaining performances, and his work here is no different. Yet it’s the sense of begrudging respect he feels towards these robbers and the complicated sense of comradery with his partner that give his work more life, texture, and grit than they would otherwise.
Yet his strong showing throughout awards season and the absence of Chris Pine lends credence towards sloppy favoritism in lieu of letting in new blood. Pine plays his role with a bone deep wariness that shockingly brand new for the actor. Bridges and Ben Foster as his twitchy, aggressive brother get the flashier roles, but Pine is the strong center of Hell or High Water. Without his tortured, somber work, seriously, he brings waves and waves of pathos in a scene where he sits alone at a bar, Hell or High Water wouldn’t work. If recent years could find room for Eddie Redmayne to flutter and twitch (The Danish Girl), Andrew Garfield to do a religious Huckleberry Hound caricature (Hacksaw Ridge), and Benedict Cumberbatch to essentially play the same role he always does (The Imitation Game), then why couldn’t we find any room for Pine’s weary, desperate work here?
The focus on characters keeps the violence at bay for much of Hell or High Water, until it must rupture and disturb the ramshackle order keeping everything in place. A robbery goes violent, and so in the true manner of a western, further blood must be spilled to retain a stasis or semblance of peace and order. When the bullets stop ringing out, we see a climatic meeting between Bridges and Pine where they stare each other down and promise that there will be no peace for either of them, they will be forever haunted by what has transpired. Does this ending promise more violence to come off-screen in another reunion, or is it simply an elliptical ending that refuses to a traditional payoff for the audience? There’s no clear answer, but the delicate balancing act of civilized society has been stripped away to leak out some of the chaos and ugliness circling underneath.
