The Big Picture
- Chris Pine delivers a layered and measured performance in Hell or High Water, showcasing deft control, nuance, and effusive energy.
- Pine shines in emotionally charged scenes, particularly in his silent yet powerful thousand-yard stare and a tense exchange with Jeff Bridges.
- Pine's portrayal of Toby Howard is marked by reserved urgency, creating a mood that sets the tone for the entire film and displays his dramatic savvy.
We've seen the versatile and charming Chris Pine take on a litany of roles over his career that have stretched him both emotionally and physically. He has been the suave space pioneer Captain James T. Kirk in the Star Trek movie franchise, the sophisticated CIA special ops man in Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, the charismatic and rakish swindler Frank in Don't Worry Darling, and the down-his-luck scoundrel in Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. He has handled each of these characters with just the right amount of deft, nuance, and effusive energy. But the role that is without a doubt his most layered and measured is as Toby Howard in the Taylor Sheridan-written neo-Western Hell or High Water.
While it might surprise some to learn that Pine has never even been nominated for an Academy Award, there is one singular part we think deserved not only a nomination but a straight-up Best Actor in a Motion Picture Oscar, all thanks to his elegantly rugged portrayal of Howard. By now, he should have a little golden statuette on his mantle as we speak, and the fact that he wasn't even nominated needs to be re-examined as there are a handful of "Oscar moments" for Pine in the film.
Hell or High Water
RCrimeThrillerWesternToby is a divorced father who's trying to make a better life. His brother is an ex-con with a short temper and a loose trigger finger. Together, they plan a series of heists against the bank that's about to foreclose on their family ranch.
- Release Date
- August 12, 2016
- Director
- David Mackenzie
- Cast
- Chris Pine , Jeff Bridges , Ben Foster , Katy Mixon , Dale Dickey , Kevin Rankin
- Runtime
- 102 minutes
- Main Genre
- Crime
- Writers
- Taylor Sheridan
- Studio
- CBS Film
Chris Pine Is Given His Most Difficult Role in 'Hell or High Water'
Chris Pine has been called on to play all sorts of characters in his still very young career, but his role in the Taylor Sheridan neo-noir Western is by far his best. In Hell or High Water, Sheridan writes a part for him that really pulls out all the actor's talents as a modern-day Frank James to his brother Tanner’s wild-ass Jesse James. After a series of ham and egg bank robberies, the two main characters settle into place. Tanner is brash, irreverent, and seems okay with giving the whole world the middle finger. For Pine's Toby, it's not quite so easy. He has to be the brains and measured temperament of the outfit as they are on a mission to steal enough money to pay off the bank lien on their family ranch that sits amid the sprawling West Texas plains. Sheridan wastes little time giving Pine the emotional anchor of the misanthropic antiheroes and asks him to deliver a sympathetic felon who you somehow want to see succeed, no matter how many laws he's broken or people he's harmed. It takes serious dramatic savvy to do that and be convincing to a smart audience.
Taylor Sheridan Should Forget the Costner Drama and Go Back to Making Cool Neo-Westerns
Taylor Sheridan should ditch Kevin Costner and go back to writing some of the best neo-Westerns like 'Hell or High Water.'The 'Hell or High Water' Scene That Should Have Earned Chris Pine an Oscar
After the two make a harrowing getaway from a botched second bank job, they return to the dilapidated ranch house where they grew up together. Ben Foster's Tanner is a fantastic wild man with a devil-may-care attitude, but when Chris Pine's character confronts him about not being around to shoulder the load of their mother's slow and painful death, it's clear that Pine is digging deep. As the two sit on the tailgate of an old, rusted-out truck on the ranch, Pine has a thousand-yard stare that emits an incredible amount of emotion without saying a word. It's West Texas and its Cowboys, so almost all the emotion is going to be subtly implied rather than expressed verbally.
Pine has a fascinating quiet intensity about him as the two brothers sit and reflect on their broken lives. Foster laments not being there for his family, and Pine is horribly troubled by his divorce and becoming an absentee father. As with most Oscar-worthy performances, it's more in what Pine doesn't say than what is on the page. It's a look, a furrowing of the brow, or a gesture that speaks volumes and Pine nails it right off the bat as we understand the convoluted dynamic of the relationship.
Chris Pine Delivers a Strong Performance in 'Hell or High Water'
As the Howard brothers are on the run from the law, played by the equally dyspeptic tandem of sheriffs named Marcus Hamilton and Alberto Parker (Jeff Bridges and Gil Birmingham,respectively), they stop at a remote convenience store in the middle of nowhere. When two punks pull up next to Tanner waiting at the gas pump in a bright neon green muscle car and start to give Tanner shit, Toby comes out of the store and sees what he perceives to be a threat to his kin (the driver brandishes a gun), and doesn't hesitate for a second. It's Chris Pine's second "Oscar moment" in Hell or High Water as he single-handedly delivers an epic beating of the driver. By the time he makes his way to the passenger side of the car, he is met with a stunned and frightened kid who doesn't want any part of the ass whooping he just witnessed. The beautiful part of the scene is watching Toby proceed calmly and get into the car and the two share a laugh as they drive away from the scene arguing the merits of Dr. Pepper verus Mr. Pibb. Pine can deliver the brawny goods if he needs to, and the size and physicality combined with a protective brother bear instincts make for a stark and utterly believable outward expression of the lengths he'll go to protect who and what he loves.
The Final Scene Between Chris Pine and Jeff Bridges Is Oscar-Worthy
After shit hits the fan between the Howard boys and the law (we'll spare any spoilers), there is a meeting between Chris Pine's Toby and Jeff Bridges' Marcus on the porch of the Tanner ranch house. It's an extended exchange that begins with banal pleasantries and pretenses, but slowly and brilliantly builds to an uncomfortable and tense crescendo as Toby and Marcus both say everything about what kind of men they are without actually saying it.
While they banter back and forth over the predicament they find themselves in, neither flinches one bit, but both could move for the trigger at any moment. It's not like a high noon quick draw outside the saloon, but like the rest of the movie, a far more nuanced, even, and rich conversation as both men express what they are willing to do to see things through to the end. If you're doing a neo-Western, then Bridges is probably the perfect straight man to play off of, and Pine capitalizes. Their words are soft, but the drama comes through knowing that at any moment everything could blow up with one or both men ending up dead.
How Chris Pine's Reserved Urgency Impacts 'Hell or High Water'
We've mentioned "Oscar moments" throughout this article and there is complete validity that in order to win the little golden man, you need to have at least one remarkable and memorable moment that gives us goosebumps, warm fuzzies, sadness, fear, or any other manner of emotions. But aside from these isolated turns, there is an overall tone and mood that the character must create that permeates and sets the tone for the entire film. In Hell or High Water, Chris Pine has an unmatched reserved urgency about him that both slows down and speeds up the measured pace of the movie. There are a handful of tender moments between father and son, and the two brothers as well. He doesn't have a lot of dialogue, and that's the way we like our leading men in Westerns. In fact, Pine spends most of the film with his chin planted firmly in his upper chest peering up at his counterparts. At the same time, there is a restlessness about him that is difficult to pinpoint, but impossible not to feel — all the way to the front of your cinematic cerebral cortex in a weighty performance that is criminally unrecognized.
Hell or High Water is currently streaming on AMC+ in the U.S.
