Was it worth it? That feels like the question each character in Hell or High Water has to grapple with. For Toby (Chris Pine), is this robbery spree worth risking his livelihood? For Marcus (Jeff Bridges), has his career in law enforcement been worth it? Will his life AFTER law enforcement be worth living? Amidst the car chases and stick ‘em ups, there are deeper questions about life, family, the past and the future, even if they’re not explicitly addressed. And that’s what makes this movie good. It could have just been a cop vs robbers movie with a lot of fun action, and it probably would have been a decent enough movie (for what it is, at least). But the movie scrapes more than the surface. I think that’s why it feels like more than just an action movie, and why it resonates with people.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching this movie. Ben Foster, as Toby’s reckless felon brother Tanner, helps to really make this movie what it is. He’s clearly unstable and dangerous, but he’s also charismatic and likable. And while he’s done terrible things in his past, and present, his devotion to his family shows that he still has some semblance of a moral code. Jeff Bridges fully embraces his role as an old man that makes too many ethnic jokes at his partner’s expense. He too displays a strict moral code that belies his supposed intolerance (I feel like the way they painted his character, he feels he HAS to make these kinds of ethnic jokes because of the environment he’s in, even if he doesn’t truly believe them at heart). And Chris Pine is really the perfect type of actor for this movie.

Was it worth it? The answer to that question is the heart of the movie for each character and the choices they make. It’s what makes or breaks the movie – what determines if it’s successful. I think it’s safe to say that the answer, for all of the above, is Yes.

4 out of 5 stars