Friday, August 19, 2016

Hell or High Water

Two brothers, a sullen drunk late on child support payments (Chris Pine) and a hair-triggered parolee (Ben Foster), take to robbing branches of the Texas Midlands Bank which plans to imminently foreclose on their recently deceased mother's ranch while a Texas Ranger (Jeff Bridges), in a bid to forestall retirement, takes a heightened interest in the case. There's nothing new under the Texas sky in David Mackenzie's tonally erratic, message conscious, cliche driven bank robbery saga, but strong performances from a winning cast, excellent open plains photography, and a character driven approach keeps Hell or High Water in the loot.
*** out of ****