Lawless

Directed by John Hillcoat

(R)

**

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It’d be going too far to call this stylized Western disappointing, said Tom Long in The Detroit News. The film’s “astounding cast and gritty look” will be enough to satisfy most ticket buyers attracted to a violent tale about three bootlegging brothers who make a stand against a corrupt G-man in Prohibition-era Appalachia. But because the script, by Nick Cave, is “overstuffed” and unfocused, Lawless “never quite reaches the heights of its promise.” A few performances pop, said Ann Hornaday in The Washington Post. Tom Hardy proves memorable as the grunting, growling top dog among the three brothers, and Guy Pearce gives the malevolent fed “a perverse streak as wide as the great Blue Ridge.” But the amazing Jessica Chastain “has little more to do” than “gaze meaningfully at Hardy,” while the rest of the cast, including headliner Shia LaBeouf, can’t overcome the sense that the whole affair is merely a highly polished genre exercise. “The punishing moments of violence will keep you alert,” perhaps even cringing, said Richard Corliss in Time. Still, Lawless has “a fossilized feeling.” It’s “more artifact than breathing work of art.”