Annapurna Pictures
115 min., dir. by John Hillcoat, with Shia LeBeouf, Tom Hardy, and Guy Pearce

Trends are everything. Zombies, vampires, royal families, and gangsters — the stories never die off, but popular adaptations do well and everyone jumps to flood the waters. With the popularity of “Boardwalk Empire” on the small screen, it’s time for the prohibition thriller to bask in the sunshine. Scripted by modern music legend Nick Cave (based on the book The Wettest County in the World), Lawless is a fancy-looking slow burn that provides nothing fresh for the genre.

The effects of prohibition have little effect on the lives of the Bondurant brothers. Running moonshine throughout their suburban county with no resistance, the simple life of this entrepreneurial trio is smooth sailing. When some new government humps run into town wanting a cut of the business, everyone but the Bondurant’s are willing to play the game. If the growing tensions of this new development aren’t enough, Jack (Shia LaBeouf), the youngest brother, believes he knows ways to build their business by dealing with big city gangsters. As time goes by, the pressure finally becomes too much as the world of the Bondurant brothers begins to boil over.

Move Lawless from its backwoods locale into the city limits of Chicago and you have every other ’30s-era gangster film. Among some grisly beat-downs and cringe-worthy attacks, two colorful characters keep the trip interesting. In the fray of thugs and novices is the soft-spoken Forrest Bondurant (Tom Hardy) — a man of few words, he sticks to what he knows and doesn’t look to rock the boat. Across the aisle is Special Agent Charlie Rakes (Guy Pierce). A government shill and strong arm enforcer, his ruthless, unforgiving nature is exemplified by his freakishly foppish appearance. These are characters a viewer can spend time getting attached to, while the rest of the Lawless world are just turnarounds of familiar skins on new bodies.

Visually, the film creates a sweeping landscape out of broken branches and dirt roads. Lawless is a pretty-looking film for a story set in a dreary forest clearing. All aspects of the production gel for an authentic experience that becomes fodder for a run-of-the-mill story. It’s unfortunate that a lot of fantastic work behind and in front of the camera went to building such a ho-hum, predictable tale. Lawless is a perfect example of wasted resources. A beautiful look and some solid performances mean nothing when the characters go nowhere, ending up in exact place you know they will.

Lawless isn’t a bad film — it just doesn’t strive to be anything more than nominal. If you’re going to hire a group of top-notch actors and popular names, build a world that has texture and authenticity to it, and reach for a higher goal. A few standout performances can’t save the day when everything surrounding them is so familiar, and Lawless does its thing, only to fall short in the face of certain potential.

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Matthew Schuchman is the founder and film critic of Movie Reviews From Gene Shalit’s Moustache and also the contributing film writer for IPaintMyMind.