I remember Looper being the one in 2012. This year, it is a modern crime western with a good cast, interesting premise, the writer of Sicario and the director of Starred Up.
Right from the wonderful opening scene, you are straight into the action, the soundtrack transports you into the brutal landscape and you gradually understand the reasons for all of our main characters decisions. The majority of the film is just great chemistry between our main players and, it is constant, engrossing and very funny at times.
Now that the chase is in full swing, the build-up to the final act got me excited to see how it was going to go down. It was thrilling, gripping and it made me gasp.
On the whole, there is quite an emotional richness to it all. It reminded me of those crime films of the 70's, and also at times I saw some similarities to moments of 'Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid'. All of this praise is due to the top performances, tight script and finely tuned editing.
The big stand-outs from these performances have to be Ben Foster and Jeff Bridges. I like Foster and it seems he rarely gets given lead roles. I will never forget his supporting role in 3:10 To Yuma. For this one, he totally disappeared into his character. He blew me away and I could certainly see moments that of his character from 3:10 To Yuma.As for Bridges, this was the type of role that was made for him at the age that he is now. His gravely voice and personality gave us such a vibrant character that gives most of the comedic moments.
The other roles worth mentioning are Chris Pine and Gil Birmingham. It was great seeing Pine doing a performance that does not rely on his good looks, but on his acting skills. His chemistry with Foster was great and essential as it managed to make us feel sympathy for these supposedly bad guys.
Birmingham has wonderful banter with Bridges throughout. It is one of those relationships where they love to wind each other up and that both of them can take the slurs. It is a great subtle supporting performance.
You can feel McKenzie's direction be so heavily detailed and careful, especially in the editing. It is certainly worthy of an award nomination. It made everything seem real, the characters were developed very patiently and it is beautifully shot.
I am honestly struggling to think of any negatives. That does not mean it is a perfect movie. I think it just means that the craft was perfectly constructed.
Overall, it is a brilliantly made crime western with a deep character study that felt like it belonged in an older era of film. The performances, writing and direction are worth seeing on the big screen. Everything that was being said felt important and memorable. The execution of the performances managed to elevate the writing even more. It moves at a nice gentle pace, there were great amounts of tension throughout and has many memorable scenes.
What will really surprise a lot of you is that despite all the crime and violence, it's funny, and I mean really funny.
I can see this contending for awards and it has got a good chance of ending the year in my top 10.
Rating: 8/10
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