Lawless and Tom Hardy's Dichotomies and Paradoxes

Lawless (2012)

Directed by John Hillcoat 

Written by Nick Cave

Starring Tom Hardy, Shia LaBeouf, Gary Oldman, Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Guy Pearce

Release Date August 29th, 2012 

'Lawless' and Tom Hardy's Dichotomies and Paradoxes

Sean Patrick

Sean Patrick, Yahoo Contributor Network

Aug 27, 2012

MORE:Tinker Tailor Soldier SpyLawlessTom HardyNick CaveThe Weinstein Company

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Tom Hardy returns to theaters this week in "Lawless." The story of legendary 1920's bootleggers The Bondurant Brothers, "Lawless" is the latest violent epic from the team of director John Hillcoat and writer Nick Cave ("The Proposition").

In an interview released by The Weinstein Company, the film's distributor, Tom Hardy talked about why accepted the role of Forrest Bondurant in "Lawless"

"I take characters as they come that interest me… that have scope and diversity; different ranges and colors and characteristics that are interesting and I find paradoxes and dichotomies of man."

Here is a look at how this philosophy has influenced Hardy as his star has risen in Hollywood; his most diverse and fascinating 'paradoxes and dichotomies.'

"Bronson"

Hardy's break out role is among the most fearsome and daring introductions of any actor, I have ever seen. "Bronson" is all about performance and Hardy commands the screen with such vigor that he damn near wins you over toward admiring his utterly psychotic character; based on a real life English criminal who's been in prison for nearly his entire adult life. Here Hardy finds a wonderful dichotomy a man of complete charm who is utterly incapable of putting that charm to good use and instead becomes a violent sociopath.

"Inception"

As a reaction to the grit of his "Bronson" character Hardy chose to show off his dashing handsome side in the brilliant, Oscar nominated Christopher Nolan movie "Inception." Hardy's Eames is a chameleon who in the world of this movie can enter people's dreams and become just about anyone. Here Hardy in a supporting role explores the paradox of a man who can become anyone yet is fully self-assured and comfortable with who he really is.

"Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy"

In the quiet English thriller "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" Hardy is once again a chameleon. As Ricki Tarr, a British spy charged with dangerous, often very violent tasks, Hardy plays the dichotomy of a man with no identity who finds himself in love for the first time and wishing he could reveal who he really is. When the love of Ricki's life is taken from him his identity becomes further fractured and he becomes even more dangerous. In any other movie this would lead to fights but in tight lipped, close to the vest style of British intelligence Ricki's dangerous side is expressed through the other characters and their concern for how his sanity might affect their well-being.

"Warrior"

The struggle for identity is once again central to Hardy's work in the family drama "Warrior." In the real life story of two brothers who rise through the ranks of Mixed Martial Arts to face each other for a championship prize Hardy plays a heroic former soldier who is eager for no one to know of his heroism. His reasons for hiding who is would constitute a spoiler so I will not delve to deeply there. That struggle however plays strongly opposite the other pain that drives him; the pain derived from his broken childhood. These two competing pains drive Tommy to feel little pain when he's fighting, yet another fascinating paradox.

"The Dark Knight Rises"

The paradoxes of Hardy's Bane in "The Dark Knight Rises" requires more spoilers than I am comfortable revealing even with a film that's already been seen most of the world. I can tell you that Hardy's unique magnetism and charisma shot through the prism of a sociopath every bit as dangerous as his 'Charlie Bronson' is a paradox every bit as interesting as the character touches the film adds to Bane late in the film.

"Lawless"

In his latest film, Hardy enjoys the notion of Forrest Bondurant as a naïve, almost childlike man who is capable of horrendous violence. At once innocent and dangerous, Hardy's Forrest is just the kind of mixture of warring characteristics that have driven Hardy throughout his rise to stardom.

Movie Review: The Road

The Road (2009) 

Directed by John Hillcoat 

Written by Joe Penhall 

Starring Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit McPhee, Robert Duvall, Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce 

Release Date November 25th, 2009 

Published November 24th, 2009 

I had to suffer through The Road on two separate occasions just to reach the end. Director John Hillcoat's bleak vision of the end of the world is so overwrought, ugly and cynical that the first time I had to walk out and get some air. The second time I suffered the whole of The Road and then needed a long shower to forget it. In some unspecified future the world simply begins to consume itself. Whether what happened was environmental, nuclear war, or some kind of biblical apocalypse we are not to know. What we do know is that inhabiting this world are The Man (Viggo Mortenson) and The Boy (Codi Smit McPhee).

Together they are making their way to the coast where rumors of a colony of some kind near the ocean give them some kind of hope for the future. More likely, however, is the idea that The Man has invented this idea to give them something to do so that The Boy won't lose hope. That is pretty well it for plot. The film is more or less a series of dank, gloomy scenes of sadness and degrading landscape. Things are so awful that even the trees seem to take a sentient stance and decide to simply topple to the ground. The journey along the road for The Man and The Boy is a slow, repetitive journey toward death.

Is The Road well realized? Yes, Director John Hillcoat can certainly suck the life out of landscape and star Viggo Mortenson is exceptional at becoming the physical embodiment of decay but don't ask either what the point of it all is. I tried imagining that the point of The Road was to have no point at all, that went nowhere and I was left really not caring. I have not read Cormac McCarthy's much praised novel on which the film is based but I am familiar enough with McCarthy and have read enough about the novel to know that the point in McCarthy's book is as much about his words as it about anything else. It seems The Road the novel was more about the way McCarthy wrote it than about any vision of the apocalypse.

What may have been at the heart of the movie The Road is a misunderstanding. Director Hillcoat and screenwriter Joe Penhall seem to have assumed that Cormac McCarthy was offering a vicious and unyielingly bitter judgement on humanity and offering a vision of the end of the world. The reality may be, again not having read the book, that McCarthy was working in prose and that this is where his vision and wordplay took him.

However the movie The Road came about, whether it is true to McCarthy's vision or not, it is far too depressing, vile and gloomy for me to recommend. Again, I respect the technical work of John Hillcoat who could suck the life out of even the most scenic locales and the work of Mr. Mortenson who immerses himself wonderfully in every role. I just cannot abide such a dark vision without some point. I don't want to live in a world where I cannot find meaning somewhere. There seems to be no meaning, point or purpose anywhere in the ugly cynicism of The Road.

Movie Review: The Proposition

The Proposition (2005) 

Directed by John Hilllcoat 

Written by Nick Cave 

Starring Guy Pearce, Richard Wilson, Ray Winstone, and Danny Huston 

Released March 10th, 2006 

Published March 8th 2006

A house is riddled with bullets. Inside, a group of supposed outlaws fights for their lives. Most of the homes inhabitants are killed save for two. These two are members of the famed Burns Gang, middle Burns brother Charlie (Guy Pearce), and youngest brother, Mikey (Richard Wilson). Captured by the Captain (Ray Winstone), the brothers are given death sentences but with a caveat.

Mikey will be taken into custody with a noose waiting for him on Christmas day. Charlie can save Mikey's life if he travels to a remote part of the Australian outback, where even aborigines fear to tread, and track down his older brother Arthur (Danny Huston). Arthur is wanted for the brutal rape and murder of a close friend of the Captain's wife (Emily Watson). The proposition that the Captain offers is a dangerous gamble, a mob waits back in the small Aussie village where the captain presides. If they find out the Captain had captured Charlie and released him, no reason will be a good enough explanation.

That is the plot outline of The Proposition, a brutally violent morality play set in early 20th century Australia; a place with more than a passing resemblance to the old west of American legend. The Proposition shares more than a passing resemblance to the western legends of John Ford and the Italian westerns of Sergio Leone, only darker and more violent. The Proposition is graphically violent with a purpose. 

Directed by Aussie video director John Hillcoat, best known for the early videos of INXS, from a script by rocker Nick Cave, who also composed the films eerie, old west soundtrack, The Proposition is stylish and often breathtakingly so. With the help of cinematographer Benoit Delhomme, director Hillcoat crafts gorgeous images of the outback juxtaposed against ghastly violence and gore.

Danny Huston has never had such a meaty role. Often left with mustache twirling villains or officious corporate worms, Huston defies his type casting with this twisted but oddly soulful killer. At one moment musing poetry and another twisting a knife into a man's chest, it is Huston's wild far away eyes that communicate his malevolent character. Much of the violence that Arthur Burns performs, his most sadistic actions, happen off-screen, out of our view. His true, vile, criminality is left to our imagination which allows it to become as twisted as we make it.

Guy Pearce creates Charlie Burns from his bones. Slimming his already skinny frame down to the pulpy, knotted muscle, Pearce is a feral animal with cold dead eyes who has somehow retained a shred of humanity that his older brother has not. His moral dilemma over the proposition is really a coming to grips with his own crimes. His puzzlement over killing his brother comes from the question of whether the murder will be enough to save his own tortured soul.

Ray Winstone rounds out the three leads with a performance that early on feels very one note. Winstone is introduced as corrupt cop who is torturing Charlie and Mikey into doing his bidding. However, as the story progresses, the Captain becomes the films moral compass and Winstone deepens the role with grace and sadness. 

The Proposition is not for everyone. It is not classically entertaining like the kind of film you catch on late night cable and can watch repeatedly. For true film buffs and fans of hardcore westerns, The Proposition is the kind of movie you go to the movies to see. For the average moviegoer, I would say find something else to rent on Saturday night. For those who appreciate film technique, a director in complete control of tone and pace and violence that has the purpose of leaving a mark in your imagination, The Proposition is the movie for you.