3. It's Not Revisionist, But That Doesn't Matter
Several reviews I have read in the wake of the film's release have concentrated on the apparent lack of new ideas, with a vaguely familiar storyline driving the action and little in the way of Hillcoat's usual revisionism and boundary pushing. The director, it seems has become a victim of his own innovative eye, with The Road and The Proposition offering some critics and fans a precedent that the director didn't continue in Lawless. But since when does entertainment or enjoyment require innovation by definition? The argument that a film can somehow not be enjoyed because it fails to push the boundaries is like the suggestion that you can only ever enjoy a particular good meal once - there can still be pleasure in familiar elements, and it is the composition and construction of those parts that should define reception. And Lawless takes familiar parts and molds them together with great success, in a slightly more understated manner than some might have expected and with more attention to character development and a more overt invitation to enjoy the film's setting and the mythos of the characters. Admittedly a less understated gangster Western that hurtles bullet quick from gun-fight to gun-fight might have been great to watch, but there wouldn't have been the necessary room for the nuances and character dynamics that really make the film shine through its more reserved pace.