Outside the law

LITTLE ROCK — Lawless

87 Cast: Shia LaBeouf, Tom Hardy, Guy Pearce, Jessica Chastain, Mia Wasikowska, Gary Oldman, Dane DeHaan, Jason Clarke Director: John Hillcoat Rating: R, for strong bloody violence, language and some sexuality/nudity Running time: 115 minutes

Lawless features a trio of brothers who manage to hold their own against a crooked establishment and can survive when most would quit or perish. No, the Bondurant brothers weren’t superheroes, but real-life Franklin County, Va., moonshiners who managed to ply their trade while dealing with a lawman willing to kill them in the name of Prohibition. Even their fellow bootleggers weren’t as dangerous as this guy.

Special Deputy Charlie Rakes (Guy Pearce), like many law enforcement officials from Richmond before him, is willing to let liquor flow freely through the county, which has been dubbed the “Wettest County in the World.” He just wants a cut of the action.

Moonshiners who refuse are lucky if the slickly dressed Rakes only beats them up. He may look (and smell) like a dandified city boy, but he has a sadistic streak that scares the local sheriff and every bootlegger in the county. He doesn’t wear white kid gloves to be fashionable; they keep the blood off his hands.

The Bondurants, however, haven’t experienced shakedowns and are a bit tougher than the ordinary corn farmer trying to supplement his income by selling booze. Forrest (Tom Hardy) has a way with brass knuckles (he can punch faster than some gunmen can shoot). Having survived World War I and Spanish flu, he’s understandably unafraid of an overzealous but crooked cop.

His brother Howard (Jason Clarke) doesn’t say much but occasionally explodes with torrents of violent rage. When other criminals try to rob Bondurant shipments, Howard effectively teaches them the folly of their actions.

Forrest and Howard’s younger brother, Jack (Shia LaBeouf ), isn’t nearly as big as his siblings, but he is important to the operation. He’s a properly leadfooted driver, and he can negotiate profitable deals with retailers. He lacks his siblings’ proficiency and resolve with weapons, but that might change as Rakes becomes more determined to stop them.

Based on Matt Bondurant’s novel The Wettest County in the World, which focused on his grandfather’s experiences as a moonshiner, Lawless takes its time setting up the inevitable showdowns, but Australian director John Hillcoat (The Proposition, The Road) is a specialist at gritty period pieces and action scenes. Prohibition was a violent era, and he doesn’t hold back in showing how harshly bootleggers dealt with competitors or other obstacles. He also vividly captures the culture of the region, depicting church meetings with the same care as gunplay.

The script by Hillcoat’s regular partner in crime Nick Cave (the alt-rocker known for his tunes with The Bad Seeds) is full of intriguing characters and snappy dialogue. The brothers get useful assistance from a disabled man named Cricket (Dane DeHaan), and Gary Oldman gets the most out of a brief but memorable role as a distributor who can be a gentleman in financial deals but a killer when crossed.

Hardy, with his gift for accents and firm manner, is expectedly convincing as Forrest but the pleasant surprise here is LaBeouf. It’s a pleasure watching him do something instead of looking in awe whenever an Autobot does something.

One astonishing aspect of Lawless is that its tale is uniquely American, but many of the cast members are British or Australian. From listening to Mia Wasikowska talk, you’d think she was American even though she hails from Down Under. Perhaps it takes outsiders to remind us where our greatest stories are.