Hell or High Water

Chris Pine and Ben Foster play two mid-western brothers intent on robbing banks, but not just any bank. These boys are only interested in one particular bank – the one that is threatening to foreclose on their family’s homestead.

Set in West Texas, ’Hell or High Water’ is a dust-blown western set against the backdrop of suffocating poverty, sped-along by unscrupulous banks intent on scraping poor people off the land. This cycle of poverty is not something Chris Pine’s Toby Howard wants for his children. With his loose canon of an ex-con brother (Ben Foster) in tow, Toby has a plan to beat both the banks and their deadline.

As a movie ‘Hell or High Water’ pulls no punches…

As a movie ’Hell or High Water’ pulls no punches in characterising the greed of banking system, the animosity of the townsfolk or the desperation of its leads. Whether in Jeff Bridges’s taunting (yet endearing) law-man tasked with hunting the robbers down, or the driving necessity of his quarry, the tone of this movie serves both the story and the point being made. In an assuredly measured performance, Chris Pine commendably underplays Toby whilst Ben Foster’s Tanner pleasingly avoids bad-boy caricature in a tale that has heart, not exaggeration, at its core.

Like Gael Garcia Bernal’s ‘Even The Rain’, ’Hell or High Water’ is a movie that achieves the rare feat of mixing real-life crisis with absorbing drama. The bank’s invisible greed is aptly reflected here with each scowl and condescension made by its characters as they criss-cross the movie’s barren landscape. Bathed in scorching yet husky hues, ’Hell or High Water’ will certainly catch your eye and live longer in your memory than many other bank heist dramas. Never drifting off into pointlessness or loud climatic gunfire, this is a highly satisfying road movie that will hold your attention right through to its very sanguine end.