'HELL OR HIGH WATER' which I caught early last week had its release Stateside in mid-August having Premiered at Cannes in May this year in the Un Certain Regard category, and only this past week has it reached Australian shores. Written by Taylor Sheridan, this modern day Western themed heist drama film has already received high praise from the critics and has made US$30M from its US$12M budget. Directed by David Mackenzie this cops & robbers thriller is set in no-hope west Texas where towns are diminished to desolate outposts - the shadows of the bristling communities they once were. Businesses have closed down, debt runs rife, the populations are dwindling, towns are dying a slow painful death in America's mid-west and its a hot dust bowl on the edge of a vast expanse of desert.
As the film opens we are introduced to brothers Tanner (Ben Foster) a somewhat hot headed ex-Con recently released from prison for killing their abusive father, and Toby Howard (Chris Pine) a divorced father of two who is estranged from his sons but who desperately wants to do the right thing by them. The two are in a car driving up to a small town branch of the Texas Midlands Bank which they intend to rob at gun point during the early morning quiet period. The robbery is simple enough and reasonably well planned. Take just the cash money from the registers in small denominations, get in quick, get out fast, no one gets hurt and no one can trace the stolen bills. The first heist goes according to plan, and so does the second, each time the pair making off with just seven or eight thousand dollars, leaving the local cat napping Police wondering WTF just happened.
We learn that the brothers mother has recently died in the last three months leaving the family farm in West Texas facing foreclosure if the mortgage isn't paid off imminently. The reverse mortgage on the property is held by Texas Midlands Bank, with about US$40K due before the weeks end - it has to be paid off come Hell of High Water by Friday, otherwise the Bank takes possession. Toby is determined to pay off the mortgage because oil has recently been discovered on the farm and he wants to sell the oil rights (worth about US$50K a month) and leave the farm to his two sons, so that they need never worry about money again. The brothers plan another heist on the same bank but a different branch in a nearby town, accumulating more funds towards the ultimate pay day which they launder through a casino over the border in Oklahoma. For each heist the brothers use a different vehicle, burying the cars on the farm dug out with a bulldozer.
After a number of robberies two Texas Rangers are put on the case - grizzled and fast approaching retirement Marcus Hamilton (Jeff Bridges) and his native Indian partner in law enforcement Alberto Parker (Gil Birmingham). Hamilton soon wises up to Toby & Tanner and works out their strategy, methods and personalities and realises their pattern of focusing on the regional Texas Midland Bank branches. In a third raid Tanner goes off on his own for a quick no nonsense robbery while Toby sits in a diner unknowing. Easy money which is laundered through the casino. In all nighter Tanner plays poker and wins up big so increasing their stash of cash, which Toby cashes in the form of a cheque made out to Texas Midlands Bank for by now, about half the sum owing, so paying back the Bank with their own stolen money! Brilliant!
Through the process of elimination, Hamilton works out where the brothers next heist will be. En route to the next suspected robbery location they arrive after the fact, but amidst a scene of carnage. The brothers raided a bank on pay day when the branch was full of people paying in their wages. Tanner proceeded with the heist not realising that some of this customers were carrying guns, and one alerted the authorities while face down on the ground using her mobile phone. A shoot out occurs in which Tanner shoots and kills a Security Guard and an armed customer, and Toby sustains a bullet wound in his side. Getting out with another stash of cash but an angry and armed mob hot on their tails, a car chase ensues out of town. On the outskirts of town and with enough distance between them, they stop their vehicle and Tanner fires upon the pursuing convoy with a semi-automatic weapon, causing them to stop in their tracks and turn back.
Toby makes it to the casino to launder the rest of the money, and have a cheque raised for the final balance on the monies owing to Texas Midlands Bank. Whilst there he learns over a news broadcast on the television that his brother has been killed. He delivers the cheques to the Bank in good time to prevent them foreclosing on the farm, and in so doing saves his property and sets up a cash legacy for his sons from the oil rights he can now sell.
Sometime later, Hamilton has retired and Toby has been cleared of any suspicion in the case given that he has a clean record and no motive for the robberies since he is a rich man anyway now. Hamilton however, is still suspicious but has nothing firm to pin on Toby other than his gut instinct. He drives out to the farm confronting Toby with what he suspects and the two face off in a battle of wits and words only to be interrupted by Toby's ex-wife who has moved onto the property with their two sons, who are now owners of the farm with it held in trust until they turn adults. Hamilton leaves the property wanting to bring Toby to justice at the end of his gun. Toby responds by saying that he is living in a rental in town and how Hamilton should drop by sometime so that they can finish their conversation - implying that the pair will meet again with weapons drawn.
This is a simple story very well told, well written and well filmed. A modern take on a tale of the old West, backed up by strong performances from Foster, Pine and Bridges, and sweeping vistas of a land that stretches for as far as the eye can see and down & dirty too with mid-western townships in a state of steady decline. Brotherly love, family values, right and wrong, good and bad, crime and punishment are all explored here in a film that takes time to allow for character development, amidst the hiatus of bank hold-ups and the sense of urgency brought about by their impending situation. Well worth searching out.
-Steve, at Odeon Online-