HELL OR HIGH WATER

(2016) Hell or High Water opens with a bang, when the Howard brothers - Toby (Chris Pine) and Tanner (Ben Foster) - don masks and bust into a Texas Midlands bank as it's opening, robbing the place at gunpoint.  You can tell bank robbery is a new "profession" for Toby, but viewers quickly learn that Tanner is a recent parolee with a nasty streak that can be set off on a dime (a character Ben Foster has gotten very adept at playing, period), and as the robberies continue the brothers attract the attention of Ranger Marcus Hamilton (Jeff Bridges) and his deputy Alberto Parker (Gil Birmingham) who quickly close in on the brothers, even as the real motivation for the robberies is slowly revealed and you start rooting for the boys even more than the rangers going after them!  At least, that is, until things take a dark turn.  Bridges, as the grizzled old ranger about to retire, leads a stellar cast, his scenes with the equally brilliant Gil Birmingham (a terrific, totally underrated actor in his own right) some of the best scenes of the film.  I'd read very little about this one before seeing it, wanting to see what the Oscar noms were all about even though I'm normally not big on westerns, but Hell or High Water is a tremendous example of how to tell a simple, linear story on film while giving it the maximum impact possible on viewers.  Really, really well-done.  (rated R) 7.5/10 stars