Concurrent to this central story of protagonist Jack taking over the business, growing up and also courting the daughter of a minister, Bertha Minnix (Mia Wasikowska) are a number of side stories involving Jessica Chastain as Maggie, a love interest for Forrest, Gary Oldman relishing the menacing role of Chicago crime boss Floyd Banner and the aforementioned Rake who sweeps into town and causes all manner of problems. The script from Nick Cave is near flawless in the way in which it threads these strands together and in addition to the punctuations of violence and the brooding menace throughout he also manages to find time for occasional moments of levity.
The various performances are all of an incredibly high standard, with some perhaps more inspired pieces of casting but others representing actors rising up to a reach a high bar. Shia LeBouf is the biggest surprise though, finally proving that he is worthy of the attention and roles he has so far received. Until this point there has been little that has positioned him particularly far beyond his early roles, such as the overly wisecracking star of kids TV show Even Stevens, but in Lawless LeBouf is something of a revelation. A smart script affords him the opportunity to grow and evolve on screen, displaying a number of different characteristics and deal with a variety of different types of scenes. Hardy is also great as the mumbling, grunting and, as the myth in the film tells it, indestructible Forrest and the supporting turns from the likes of Wasikowska, Pearce, Oldman and Chastain help make this confined but almost sprawling crime drama all the more compelling.
The only issue that the film really has is unfortunately in the set dressing, costume design and prop making, which fails to convince at times with almost everything appearing as if it has just been placed on set or on location. There is little sense that anything is lived in – an impressive shot of a dust cloud begs the question, where is all the dust? – or even at times of that period but luckily this does not distract too much from one becoming immersed in what is a fascinating tale well told with absolute skill and class.
[Rating:4/5]