BEFORE: Heh, I just realized that I programmed a film all about bootleggers and revenuers for the day before the IRS April 15 tax deadline. And tomorrow's film will be about bank robbers, so...nice job, unconscious mind! Linking from "Gangster Squad", Sean Penn was also in "The Tree of Life" with Jessica Chastain (last heard in "Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted") - or if you prefer, Emma Stone was also in "The Help" with Jessica Chastain. Whichever.
THE PLOT: Set in Depression-era Franklin County, Virginia, a trio of bootlegging brothers are threatened by a new special deputy and other authorities angling for a cut of their profits.
AFTER: This is another film where there are no real heroes, like in "Get Carter" or "Payback". It's very easy to let the film convince you that the central character (or characters) is the hero. In this case, it's the illegal bootleggers vs. the corrupt lawmen and revenuers. But just because some are portrayed as less evil than others, or just because some characters are portrayed with wives and families, it does not make them good people.
However, every character, even the villains, should be portrayed as thinking of themselves as heroes. Lex Luthor thinks he's doing the right thing by trying to rid the world of the alien menace, Superman. Dr. Doom thinks that him taking over the world would make sure that it would be run that much more efficiently. Darth Vader only wants to quash a rebellion and restore the peace and order that only the Empire can bring.
Last night there were bullets flying everywhere, between the mob and the police in L.A., and the good guys hardly ever seemed to get hit. Completely unbelievable, but tonight we've got the opposite problem. The good guys take a lot of bullets, but the shots never seem to be fatal, to the point where it's fairly ridiculous, and in the end just as unbelievable. Is this just a tricky thing for Hollywood to get right, the bullet to wound to fatality ratio?
This is apparently based on a true story, and again we've got the tie-in to "The Untouchables" since that film was also set during Prohibition. But this film really left me with a "Ehh, so what?" kind of feeling. I'm hard pressed to think that there's a larger point being made by any of the proceedings.
Also starring Tom Hardy (last seen in "The Dark Knight Rises"), Shia LaBeouf (last seen in "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps"), Jason Clarke, Guy Pearce (last seen in "Iron Man 3"), Dane DeHaan (last seen in "Lincoln"), Mia Wasikowska (last seen in "Jane Eyre"), Gary Oldman (last heard in "A Christmas Carol"), Noah Taylor (last seen in "The New World"), Bill Camp
RATING: 4 out of 10 mason jars
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