Hell or High Water (2016), R, ★★★★

Two brothers chilling in Texas. 

I have been to West Texas before and it is so different than other places I have been to. I am more familiar with urban life, so I do not want to downgrade rural life because it is not fair. But, when living or exploring the territory or territories, it does not become only a different region, but feels like a different country. Ever since No Country for Old Men, it has been a while since a great story has come about regarding the situation about lives in dangerous territories. With Sicario last year, we had a keen interest by exploring the criminal activity in Mexico and it was chilling. Now here, this is a more personal story regarding the Old West and New West meeting for a showdown to collide the predicaments of what may happen with each character. And, this is both a fascinating outlook of a portrait of lower-class people attempting to relive their dangerous situation and a character study of three interesting players in the game.

Two men with guns and masks threaten a woman and force her to open the bank drawers as they are robbing a bank. She tells him that there is no money and she will not get the money until the bank manager will arrive at 8:30 a.m. The robbers take umbrage and she says that they will be accused of being stupid. When the bank manager arrives, he is greeted by the robbers and one hits him in the face and they both escape.

The two robbers are brothers: Tanner Howard (Ben Foster), he just got out of prison a year ago and is considered a criminal and Toby (Chris Pine), who has a cleaner record than his older brother and chides him for hitting the manager. After an eventful bank robbery, Toby states to an old man that they are obligated to rob the banks and not citizens after the old man attempts to shoot them. The brothers go back to the ranch where they have a large hole dug and bury the car with a backhoe. Their ranch is in a state of poor condition after their mother has died, and will be foreclosed by the bank and that explains why they are robbing in the first place.

The robbery cases are given to Texas Ranger Marcus Hamilton (Jeff Bridges) and his partner, Alberto (Gil Birmingham). Marcus is facing mandatory retirement as a redemptive opportunity to stave off retirement a little longer. Marcus makes some comments regarding Alberto's racial heritage since he is half Mexican and half Indian. Alberto responds with some insults. Since the FBI is not interested in the case because the robbers stole only $7,000 from local banks, it is up to Texas authorities to solve the case.

Jeff Bridges and Gil Birmingham.

This is a great movie. This is a great movie about the portrait of lower-class citizens who lived in poverty in the past but also an outlook of the people outside of main characters living in poverty. For example, there is a moment when Marcus and Alberto observes a prairie fire and some ranchers moving a herd of cows fleeing from the fire. And, one of the ranchers comment that the fire should have taken him and his cows in misery, stating that he has had enough of his life and state he is in because he is living in poor conditions. But, also, the main plot is brilliant because we understand why the two brothers are robbing and how they are scheming their plots because it makes sense. The themes of survival and poverty surround both the two siblings and the environment.

Chris Pine delivers one of his best performances of his career has a man who wants to make ends meet and make things right regarding the ranch and his life with his family. He has divorced his wife a while ago. Ben Foster also gives a great performance as a man, with a criminal record, who enjoys the thrill of robbing banks. But they both rob banks for different reasons. We have to decide whether Pine's character's actions are moral or not. Jeff Bridges has the Tommy Lee Jones role as the deputy figuring out the mystery behind the robberies but he is a different character as he observes from an aged perspective but has a fun time commenting and also interacting with his partner because they have known each other for a while.

This is one of the few brilliant movies in a disappointing year and will definitely be on my list on the Best Movies of 2016 with four months to go. The movie examines with great detail and also great cinematography by Giles Nuttgens and David Mckenzie's direction about a side of America that we cannot bear to see but we have to see to help people in those conditions otherwise chaos will run amuck just like what we observed on these two brothers' journey. This is a well-crafted heist thriller that is disguised as somewhat of a Texas western that is both illuminating and refreshing from both a storytelling standpoint and an ethical standpoint.

****