Hell or High Water

2016 "Blood always follows money."
7.6| 1h42m| R| en| More Info
Released: 12 August 2016 Released
Producted By: Sidney Kimmel Entertainment
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://hellorhighwater.movie
Synopsis

A divorced dad and his ex-con brother resort to a desperate scheme in order to save their family's farm in West Texas.

... View More
Stream Online

The movie is currently not available onine

Director

Producted By

Sidney Kimmel Entertainment

Trailers & Images

Reviews

Her-Excellency The first time I watched this, I turned it off at about the 5-minute mark. I thought it was another dumb movie about inept country-bumpkins, which would rely on a mixture of slapstick and overly-done sappy and violent scenes in order to create enough of a pull to keep at least some audience members somewhat entertained.How wrong I was. I finally sat down and watched it with friends who insisted it was not what it appeared to be within the first few minutes of the film. Without giving too much away, and having to use a spoiler tag, Hell or High Water is a story about two brothers who after the death of their mother, organize a series of (justified?) bank robberies. What ensues is a catch-me-if-you-can scenario with the pursuing "law" hell-bent on catching them, and them hell-bent on not being caught. In short, it is a typical story of cops and robbers (or so you would think), with an atypical, uncommon and unconventional narrative. Given the plot, the remote setting and the almost nostalgic atmosphere and ambiance of the film, it is honestly a miracle, and more than a pleasant surprise, just how very gratifying and outstanding this film actually is.A definite must-watch.
capt_cleere I am writing this review two days after visiting Texas. Let me tell you right now, this movie has not only captured the look and feel of Texas, but the people of Texas. Every character in this movie,{including the T-Bone Café waitress} I feel like I met while visiting there. This movie captured the heart and soul of Texas. Hell or High Water is extremely dynamic in the character study of each and every person in this film. My favorite is Ben Foster's character 'Tanner Howard', everyone else in this film is the resin, this guy is the catalyst that truly makes this one solid movie. At first glance Tanner seems shallow and foolish, as the movie progresses you see that he is the only one that truly grasps the reality and the consequences of their actions, but he does it anyway because of his loyalty and love for his brother. I love the seen in the Casino where Tanner and the large Comanche Indian go nose to nose, it is the second reference to the white man becoming like the American Indian and being stripped of land and dignity. It's as if Tanner has become a Comanche warrior on his last stand before becoming extinct in the world of the evil rich. This is a movie that really should be watched more than once so you can catch every line that is incredibly scripted. Well, I gave this movie a 10 because I loved it, every aspect of it, even the music.
Robert J. Maxwell Two rambunctious young fellows decide to rob the Midlands Bank of Texas that's threatening to foreclose on their pitiful and unproductive little cattle ranch. One of the boys (Chris Pine) is notably less rambunctious than his older brother (Ben Foster), who has just left the slams after a six-year vacation there. Foster is thrilled with the banditry, whoops with delight as they zigzag away from the banks, leaving a cloud of dust. Pine loves his brother but believes him to be a little nuts. Pine has spent the last year or so caring at home for their dying mother. "This the bed she was in?" asks Foster, on seeing the empty bed for the first time. "Well, Eff it. She didn't care much for me anyhow." (A pragmatist.) As the two reckless boys set about their task, usually planned, but one entirely spontaneous, we meet the other side of the law -- Jeff Bridges as a casual old Texas Ranger on the brink of retirement, and his Comanche deputy and sidekick, Gil Birmingham, whom Bridges is always teasing about his Indianness -- catching the robbers with voodoo, eating pemmican, and the like.In contrast to the robbers, Bridges kind of slouches around, takes his time to think things over, and exercises his fulgurating intuition to anticipate their next move.I don't want to get into the plot in any more detail. It's a good movie. It rings true. The location shooting in New Mexico is evocative. The characters -- even the most minor -- are colorful. The story itself is credible, with moments comedy alternating with those carrying the tension of a coiled spring. It certainly seems right as a picture of small-town Texas. It owes a lot, I suspect, to the wildly successful "Fargo" that preceded it by a few years but I don't care. If all imitations were this good I'd start drinking almond flavored soy milk instead of the real thing.
LilyDaleLady I'm torn on this film; it has many good points including first rate performances from Jeff Bridges and some of the supporting actors. The music is terrific and the cinematography is gorgeous -- though I was disappointed to find out it was all filmed in NEW Mexico (us Easterners were probably easily fooled -- but don't Texans and New Mexicans sense this right off? Perhaps the crew -- 90% British -- don't see any differences between those two states!)It's also very funny in places. But HOHW has a fatal flaw, and that is....plot holes the size of Jupiter.The biggest and most glaring: EVERYTHING in the film hinges on the two bank robbing brother's motivation to save the family farm from foreclosure, by robbing one local bank chain of the petty cash in the drawer (and then laundering that money at casinos, and ultimately, paying their late mother's reverse mortgage off with the stolen cash).I am gobsmacked the film's writers did not bother to research this AT ALL. That is not how reverse mortgages even work. You do not even have to make payments on a reverse mortgage, so it could not be "in arrears". And the mother borrowed only $25,000? That's chump change -- the ranch is clearly hundreds of acres (we see it at the end, stretching to the horizon) and worth at the rock-bottom minimum hundreds of thousands of dollars BEFORE THEY FIND OIL ON IT. So the brothers were never "poor" as Chris Pine alleges at the end, when claiming that's why he robbed banks -- so his two sons would not "grow up poor like he did". OK -- except he wasn't poor. And most people provide for their sons by GETTING A JOB. And maybe, moving somewhere where there are more jobs. Or by SELLING the land (so you could pay off the reverse mortgage legally) and then still having anywhere from several hundred thousand dollars to MILLIONS OF DOLLARS (!!!).On top of this, it is infuriating to think the filmmakers think if you cannot provide your children with MILLIONS OF DOLLARS...they are "poor". There is in their eyes nothing in between foreclosure/welfare and MILLIONS? Nothing like, say, "an ordinary job" and "paying your bills" and "living an honest life"?It's like some weird justification for armed robbery, to "get even" with banks -- who are apparently supposed to forgive all loans, and never demand repayment, and of course, we all know if you own property -- it is "yours" for all eternity, even if you don't pay your taxes, bills or mortgage loans.On top of this; HOW can people who KNOW they have just won the biggest life lotto of all -- owning a ranch pumping $600,000 worth of oil profits every year and ergo, worth at least $20 million -- be whining about "how poor they are" and "how rough they have it" and how they have to be criminals??? That defies all credulity. Most people in their shoes would be on spending sprees with the royalty checks.Some other posters have also noted other stupid stuff like "casinos have cameras" and "since they are already suspect (definitely the Ben Foster character, as he's been shot by police), it would be easy to work backwards, and realize Chris Pine paid off the mortgage on his ranch in a suspicious fashion, and with checks from a casino". The most mundane detective work would have turned up the casino laundering trick and bingo, case solved.Lastly: at the end, Chris Pine is GUT SHOT, and has a bullet in him, but it hardly effects him -- he's not rolling on the ground screaming in pain or dying from peritonitis -- and how did he get the bullet out? going to the hospital would have pointed a big fat arrow at him as part of the robbery team. Did he dig it out himself and do home surgery? WTF?Too bad that nobody edited this or read it before filming, or had a bank loan officers give it a once over -- the devil is in the details, and these flaws keep this from being anything more than a mediocre shoot 'em up robbery film (with debts, also noted by others, to "No Country For Old Men").