Lawless - 4 stars out of 10

Lawless - 4 stars out of 10

I had high expectations for "Lawless" but found myself unimpressed in the end.  I suppose that the first problem was that I thought this was a Western... but that didn't end up mattering in the end.  The story is interesting, the action is well-filmed, the gritty crime feel is ever-present, but I failed to establish a connection with the protagonist characters.  While I spent the entire time being impressed with how awesome Guy Pearce and Gary Oldman were, it never works well when the bad guys out-act the good guys.  Tom Hardy had potential as one of these heroic brothers but he was counterbalanced by Shia LaBeouf, who is sometimes too hard to see as an adult.  The girls (Jessica Chastain and Mia Wasikowska) are pretty good but not good enough to outshine the bad guys.  I am glad that I watched this film to experience the story but it doesn't go very far beyond that.  This is a prime example of an above-average cast creating an average movie.