Strip this bootlegger tale of its extreme violence and what you're left with is one of those hokey, cliché-ridden afternoon TV movies.
The Bondurant brothers are doing comfortably out of manufacturing moonshine in prohibition-era until Guy Pearce's unhinged federal agent muscles in. A grunting Tom Hardy plays the hardnut older brother, while Shia LeBeouf is the more sensitive younger brother pining for a preacher's daughter (Mia Wasikowska). Jessica Chastain wafts around airily and Gary Oldman is wasted as a hoodlum in this Nick Cave-scripted disappointment.
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