Trailer: Lawless


This trailer has been out for a while now but I still want to post it here because, I have to admit, I have slowly fallen in love with it.  Lawless appears to be a stylish period piece about ruthless men shooting each other and, quite frankly, after sitting through such ponderous and overly serious films as Public Enemies and J. Edgar, I think we’re all in the mood for a prohibition gangster film that’s actually fun to watch.

There are three reasons why I think Lawless might be good and those three reasons are: Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, and Guy Pearce (though I do have to wonder what exactly is going on with Pearce’s hair).  Seriously, this trailer had me as soon as Oldman flashed that little smirk of his.  As for Tom Hardy — well, I’m with Jessica Chastain on this one.  I’d dance for him too.

There are a few reasons to be concerned.  Director John Hillcoat previously directed The Road, which I didn’t really care for.  (The end of the world might be many things but it should never be boring.)  However, my biggest concern is the fact that even though the film features Hardy, Oldman, Pearce, and Chastain, it apparently stars Shia LeBouf.  When I saw Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, I had to keep reminding myself that the film was actually about LeBouf because he just seemed so forgettable and watching the trailer for Lawless, I find myself wondering how, if LeBouf couldn’t even summon up enough charisma to hold the screen against Michael Douglas, how is he going to handle being in a film with Tom Hardy, Guy Pearce, and Gary Oldman?