Since the decline of the western, there have been constant efforts to reinvigorate the genre for contemporary audiences. As we are beyond the days of cowboys and shootouts in the middle of the street, how do you adapt the genre conventions for the present day? This has been the success of Taylor Sheridan’s ascent to stardom — in the shows written, directed, or produced by him for Paramount, the multihyphenate has figured out the formula. But this knack didn’t start with Yellowstone or Landman. The prototype for what those shows would become is found in 2016’s Hell or High Water.
Directed by David Mackenzie, Hell or High Water is the second in Sheridan’s trilogy about life in the American Frontier, focused on the evolution of society in the face of technological and societal changes over the last 100-plus years. Set in rural Texas, Hell or High Water begins as a traditional cops-and-robbers western as we follow two brothers (Chris Pine and Ben Foster) as they rob banks and launder their earnings. Hot on their trail are a pair of Texas Rangers (Jeff Bridges and Gil Birmingham). This film is light on plot and expository dialogue which is exactly how Sheridan intended it to be. Instead, it’s focused on the lives of these brothers, to explain why they’re robbing banks in the first place.
