It’s time for a good old fashioned heist movie as Chris Pine and Jeff Bridges are set against each other in Hell Or High Water (2016), which premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. It’ll be arriving on general release in the UK later in the year and with positive reviews following its screening on the French Riviera, it could be one to chalk up on your serious cinematic drama watch list.
If that isn’t enough to nudge it into contention, you can also add the fact that the screenplay for the film was written by Taylor, whose last movie release was the impressive action thriller, Sicario. You can check out the trailer below to get a glimpse of what to expect and while Jeff Bridges doesn’t feature much in it, the increasing tension would indicate that it’ll build to a showdown between the two.
Release date
Hell Or High Water has a UK release date of Friday the 9th September 2016, just a few weeks later than the US release on the 12th August. It’ll be arriving in the UK on the same weekend as the Ben Hur remake, so it’ll have a fair amount of mainstream competition, but for more serious cinema goers it should be the one to watch that weekend with shades of No Country For Old Men.
Story
The plot centres on two brothers, Toby and Tanner, who set about robbing banks in West Texas in a bid to raise enough money to pay off their debts to avoid losing their family farm. The crimes are inevitably targeted by the local law enforcement, putting the two men in the sights of a Ranger determined to bring the pair to justice.
When the lawman starts to piece the clues together, noticing the calculating methods behind the amount of money stolen, he concludes that there’s a specific aim behind the robberies. As the net draws tighter around Toby and Tanner, the situations gets increasingly tense for their desperate attempt to stave off the loss of their land and livelihood.
Cast
Chris Pine (Star Trek Beyond) plays younger brother Toby and Jeff Bridges (Tron Legacy) takes on the role of Marcus the foul-mouthed and long in the tooth West Texas Ranger out to haul the offender into the courts in one last big arrest ahead of his retirement. Older brother Tanner is played by Ben Foster (Kill Your Darlings) and the rest of the cast is made up of Gil Birmingham (Rango) as Marcus’ partner Alberto, Katy Mixom (Eastbound And Down) as waitress Jenny Anne, and Melanie Papalia as Toby’s love interest Emily.
Production
Hell Or High Water has been directed by David Mackenzie (Starred Up), from the Taylor Sheridan-penned screenplay. It was produced by Sidney Kimmel, Peter Berg, Carla Hacken and Julie Yorn, and executive produced by Gigi Pritzker, Bill Lischak, Michael Nathanson, Rachel Shane, John Penotti and Bruce Toll. It’s presented by CBS Films, Sidney Kimmel Entertainment and Oddlot Entertainment.
The music for the film comes from Nick Cave and his Bad Seed compadre, Warren Ellis.
First impressions
All things are pointing to a fairly hefty box office heist for Hell Or High Water, which has already got strong post-Cannes reviews to boast about, in addition to a solid cast and the writing skills of Taylor Sheridan. The trailer below looks strong, with its building intensity and subject matter depth, which touches on the same old world new world collision and desperate times themes that Cormac McCarthy did so well in No Country For Old Men.
It’s too early to say if this is a genuine contender for Academy Award success, but it’s definitely a contender to be a contender from the way things are shaping up.
