Lawless

"When the law became corrupt, outlaws became heroes."

2012 1h 55m EN

👍

7.1

SOLID

★7.1TMDB · 3,436

CrimeDramaWestern

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

In 1931, the Bondurant brothers of Franklin County, Virginia, run a multipurpose backwoods establishment that hides their true business — bootlegging. Middle brother Forrest is the brain of the operation; older Howard is the brawn, and younger Jack, the lookout. Though the local police have taken bribes and left the brothers alone, a violent war erupts when a sadistic lawman from Chicago arrives and tries to shut down the Bondurants operation.

“When the law became corrupt, outlaws became heroes.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Shia LaBeouf
Jack Bondurant
Tom Hardy
Forrest Bondurant
Gary Oldman
Floyd Banner
Guy Pearce
Charlie Rakes
Jason Clarke
Howard Bondurant
Jessica Chastain
Maggie Beauford
Mia Wasikowska
Bertha Minnix
Dane DeHaan
Cricket Pate

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: John Hillcoat
Writers: Nick Cave
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

ERA

Did you know

Released 14 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by John Hillcoat, shot by Benoît Delhomme. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Nick Cave. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Dylan Tichenor shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

ERA

Did you know

Shia LaBeouf and Tom Hardy and Gary Oldman carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "When the law became corrupt, outlaws became heroes.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt1212450 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

John Hillcoat directs. Benoît Delhomme behind the camera. Nick Cave scores. Dylan Tichenor cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 14 years ago.
2Directed by John Hillcoat, shot by Benoît Delhomme. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by Nick Cave. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor Dylan Tichenor shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Shia LaBeouf and Tom Hardy and Gary Oldman carry the top of the cast.
6Marketing tagline: "When the law became corrupt, outlaws became heroes.".
7IMDB entry: tt1212450 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Classified under 17 themes, including "corruption", "based on novel or book", "prohibition era", "brother".
9Released under 11 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Benoît Delhomme
Original score: Nick Cave
Editing: Dylan Tichenor
Production design: Chris Kennedy
Costume design: Margot Wilson
Makeup / hair: Ken Diaz
Sound: Leslie Shatz
Stunt coordinator: Mickey Giacomazzi
Runtime: 115 min · 1h 55m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $26,000,000
Box office: $55,404,207
Return: 213% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Lawless (2012)

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John Hillcoat

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Dark Jedi2018-06-30
★ 6/10
Well, as the blurb says, Lawless is the true (hmmm ?) story about the Bondurant brothers. This is one of the movies that my dear wife picked up. I had no clue concerning this movie until we watched it. It turned out be an enjoyable movie evening. This is a well done movie indeed although I felt like it could have been an even better movie at the end. Acting, scenery, general story is all quite good. Well the story is okay. It is not exactly ground breaking but rather a standard bootlegging kind of story. The new deputy is a real asshole to the extent of being somewhat unbelievable. Guy Pearce plays the role well though. That goes for the rest of the main cast as well. It is a well-acted movie. It kind of drags on a bit though. The real action where they finally take on the asshole deputy is not until the very end of the movie. Okay, that is perhaps understandable but until then the movie is quite slow. I would not have minded to see both the older Bondurant brothers being a bit more into the action but instead we mostly follow Jack (Shia LaBeouf) on his various more or less silly escapades and romantic adventures which, not very surprisingly, ends up with him leading previously mentioned asshole deputy right to their illegal booze factory…sigh! I am not 100% convinced that you can survive having your throat cut by the way. I think that was rather silly. It is a good movie and of a lot higher quality than most although perhaps not exactly my style of movie and I have to say that I thought the ending, with Forrest blundering into the frozen lake, was rather meh. Still, it is worth 6 out o10 stars but not more as far as I am concerned.

Production companies