Saturday, February 17, 2018

Now Showing: American Outlaws

American Outlaws
Genre: Western/Drama
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Writer: Seth Overton
Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Jessica Chastain, Joaquin Phoenix, Michael Fassbender, Adrien Brody, Tom Hiddleston, Bryan Cranston, Margo Martindale

Plot: Adam Worth (Matthew McConaughey) was the kind of man that favored intellectual approach over violence. A true pacifist, he never harmed anyone's person, never threatened a life with knife or gun and yet he became the most successful safecracker and bank robber in the city of New York, nicknamed "The Napoleon of Crime". His wit, creativity and never-satiated obsession for total success, brought him to the atention of Fredericka Mandelbaum, an important figure of the city's underworld.

Together with the likes of his best friend "Piano" Charlie Bullard  (Adrien Brody), Max "The Baron" Shinburn (Michael Fassbender) and Western George (Bryan Cranston), they slowly tranzitioned from low-stake jobs to the larger avenues of bank and store robberies.

Elsewhere, a man with the same driving ambition, but different motivation, was determined to put an end to crime and corruption, once and for all. His name was Allan J. Pinkerton (Joaquin Phoenix). He was a Scottish American detective and spy that founded the Pinkerton National Detective Agency with the purpose of going after the most notorious outlaws.

In planning the gang's most elaborate heist yet, Fredericka Mandelbaum (Margo Martindale) enlisted the help of Sophie Lyons (Jessica Chastain), a thief who had slowly gained notoriety among the criminal underworld for her talent. Adam and Piano Charlie both became enamored with their new colleague, which led to a falling out. However, when Charlie was arrested during the heist, Adam had to put their differences aside and devise a plan to get him out. He tasked Western George with making a blueprint of the prison and analyzing the map of the region.

In the meantime, Allan Pinkerton found this to be the perfect opportunity to interrogate Charlie with regards to his heist conspirators. In contrast with Adam's modus operandi, Pinkerton was prepared to use even the more gruesome methods to get Charlie to rat out his friends (with no success).

For the escape, Mandelbaum and her associates rented an office across the street from the prison and tunneled into Bullard's cell, with Thomas "Shang" Draper (Tom Hiddleston) bribing two guards to keep them quiet.

In the final act of the film, Mandelbaum became paranoid after a failed assassination attempt and suspected one of her associates. She mistakenly had Sophie killed, but later found out it was Shinburn who ordered the assassination. Fearing for his life, Shinburn made a deal with Pinkerton in order to rat out his associates.

Bullard and Worth worked together one last time, to rob the vault of Boylston National Bank in Boston, but because of Shinburn they were forced to move to England and live under false names. Mandelbaum got arrested, Shang committed suicide for fear of prison life and Shinburn entered protective custody.


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