Chris Pine smiles slightly at a red carpet event
Taylor Sheridan may be best known today as the architect behind the Yellowstone empire, along with Landman and Tulsa King, but long before he redefined the small-screen Western, he was shaking up Hollywood with a modern frontier classic.
Hell or High Water, the 2016 neo-Western that helped launch Sheridan’s reputation as one of the finest screenwriters of his generation, is climbing again on Paramount+ — and for good reason. The David Mackenzie–directed film stars Chris Pine as Toby, a desperate single father trying to keep his family’s ranch from foreclosure, who teams up with his volatile ex-con brother Tanner to pull off a series of small-town bank heists. Hot on their trail is Marcus, a grizzled Texas Ranger played by Jeff Bridges in one of his most acclaimed late-career performances. With retirement on the horizon, Marcus isn’t about to let one last chase slip away, setting the stage for a cat-and-mouse game across the dusty Texas landscape. For fans of Yellowstone and Sheridan’s other series, Hell or High Water is essential viewing — a lean, tightly wound story that feels like a prototype for the themes he’s still exploring on television. The film is part of what’s been dubbed Sheridan’s “American Frontier Trilogy,” sandwiched between Sicario and Wind River . Like those companion films, it’s less about shootouts than it is about survival, family, and the heavy toll of justice in America’s rugged borderlands. How Good Is 'Hell or High Water'? When it first hit theaters, Hell or High Water became both a critical darling and a modest box office success, grossing over $37 million worldwide. It earned four Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor for Bridges, Best Original Screenplay for Sheridan, and Best Editing. On Rotten Tomatoes, it remains Certified Fresh with near-unanimous praise from critics and audiences alike. Collider's review of the movie hailed the leads in Pine and Foster: This film lives and dies by the performances of the brothers. And they do not disappoint. Tanner could’ve been played as an over-the-top firecracker with an itchy trigger finger, but Foster smartly winds the violent coil down until its most absolutely necessary. Instead, Foster chooses to lay on a good-for-nothin’ charm that’s all mumbled confidence and acidic humor. And instead of simply having a short fuse, Foster adds the beats of frustration that both ignite that fuse, but also drive home the idea of brotherly love. As the other brother, Pine, who usually plays heroes, plays neither hero nor anti-hero. He is a man with a plan. He is measured. 9.0/10 Hell or High Water 10 stars 9 stars 8 stars 7 stars 6 stars 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 star Like Follow Followed R Crime Documentary Drama Thriller Western Release Date August 12, 2016 Runtime 97minutes Director David Mackenzie Writers Taylor Sheridan Cast See All
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