Critics reviews

This bank robbery movie opens with signs dotting the West Texas landscape that say things like 3 TOURS IN IRAQ BUT NO BAILOUT FOR PEOPLE LIKE US, establishing it as the only Oscar-nominated film that grappled with Trump's America as the train wreck approached. Right up to its unsatisfying, to-be-continued ending, the film's lugubrious quality marks it as an example of grievance cinema, art-directed for a new era of violent self-pity, economic decline, and racial appropriation.

It gives off all the signals of being a tough, resonant little thriller, except that as scripted by Taylor Sheridan, it's actually an insultingly pat piece of work. Besides being a desultorily predictable study in contrasts, nutty Tanner (Ben Foster) and noble Toby (Chris Pine) are given such meticulously jerry-rigged motivations for their crime spree—it's a joint fuck-you to unscrupulous bankers and an abusive father—that the ostensible "moral ambiguity" of the material is actually crystal clear.

Tense, atmospheric thriller that could have done with maybe twelve fewer shots of roadside signs with foreclosure messages or bankruptcy law firms' numbers on them.

The best Western since—what?—Unforgiven (1992)? Open Range (2003)? The elemental elements are all there, burnt into its hide like a brand, with no irony, no city slicker condescension: the feel of the land, the promise of the frontier, the regeneration through violence, the outlaws, the lawmen, the colorful varmints by the side of the road. With a twenty-first-century setting, nineteenth-century roots, and mid-twentieth-century cinematic chops, it is what used to be called an adult Western.

Taylor Sheridan, the screenwriter, who wrote the relentlessly scary drug-war movie Sicario, knows how to set the action in motion, and Mackenzie knows how to keep it rolling. But it goes down some well-worn tracks... [Jeff Bridges] uncannily creates a life-size Western hero from the marrow out. He alone makes Hell or High Water worth seeing.

In "Hell or High Water," the principal sound is the clicking of the screenwriter Taylor Sheridan's keyboard, which threatens to override the action and might as well punch the dialogue directly onto the screen in lieu of the actors' delivery. The one respite from this, of course, is Bridges, whose sly, guttural inflections and silent gestures—down to the tilt of his head beneath the outsized brim of his hat—are more eloquent and expressive, more alive, than anything he's given to say.

The film is rich with details. The plot is clever, and its intricacies are beautifully worked out. (The script is by actor-writer Taylor Sheridan, who also wrote Sicario.) Mostly, though, Hell or High Water works because Mackenzie and cinematographer Giles Nuttgens are so alive to the desolate bloom of the West Texas landscape, to the way its heat can seem devil red hot, dust yellow or completely colorless depending on the time of day and the direction of the wind.

Made with humor and plenty of style, [...the film] marks the highest profile American release to date for Scottish director David Mackenzie (Young Adam, Starred Up). With a colorful screenplay by Taylor Sheridan (Sicario), the film shows the scope of Mackenzie's talent for directing performances and staging unobtrusive long takes, while displaying a newfound knack for efficient, involving action. Simply put, it's one of the best (and most) American films to hit theaters this year.

A less interesting film would stop at this culture merely cannibalizing itself, but Hell or High Water has the empathy to make itself about characters trying to break that cycle the only way they know how.

Proving an unexpectedly good fit for the material, the British director David Mackenzie was chosen on the strength of his previous feature, "Starred Up"... Mr. Pine, in a quietly watchful performance (no Captain Kirk joshing here), gives Toby a cagey cleverness that allows Mr. Foster to shine as his gleefully lawless accomplice.

The film begins with an impressive long take depicting the tense moments before Toby (Chris Pine) and Tanner Howard (Ben Foster) rob the first of multiple West Texas banks. Look carefully and you'll notice some graffiti that reads, "13 tours in Iraq but no bailout for people like us." Throughout this sharp and sometimes violent genre film, similar signs of protest play an important role in communicating a collective rage felt toward the financial industry.

Hell or High Water's deliberate pacing gives it the feel of a heist story with its feet stuck in mud — and that's a good thing. When the movie just sits with the characters on front porches or in backyards, Mackenzie's generous, hands-off approach with his actors — most of the conversation scenes play out in long takes with minimal camera movement — yields poignant rewards.