The best part of this film was the cinematography. There were some beautiful scenes, and the directing was good. Unfortunately, the acting was let down by the predictable Bonnie and Clyde type story. Margot Robbie was quite good as a gun-slinging moll.
This thriller is set in 1930s Texas. Everything is reconstituted exceedingly well and feels very real. The acting is excellent, including that of Margot Robbie, the lead female character. (Darby Camp, in the role of the little girl, is amazing.) It is a kind of Bonnie and Clyde story of a kind that we are all familiar with.
It is a good movie and an entertaining one, and the storyline is well put together. But something is missing. It is hard to tell what, precisely. Ultimately, it could be in the nature of Allison Wells (Margot Robbie), the central female character, as she somehow lacks depth and complexity. In the last analysis, the story unfolds in a predictable manner, and it fails to surprise us: that is probably the film's key weakness.
The DVD I was sent was configured in such a way that it was impossible to remove the subtitles (in English). I tried for about 25 mins without success, then gave up. This also ruined it for me, as they take up a lot of the screen and prevent you from truly 'entering' the story, reminding you constantly that you are watching a movie... It is easier to tolerate the subtitles when it is a foreign film. I found this extremely annoying. I have never had this problem before with any DVD.
Nothing much really happened in this film, but it was still quite watchable. At its core, it was a coming-of-age film, where a boy on the cusp of manhood gets entwined with a criminal on the run. There are some quite beautiful shots in the film, but also some mighty unusual shots (like the scene in the motel bathroom - we kept wanting the camera to pan right a bit!). All in all, we enjoyed the film, but not sure if we would really recommend it.