David Mackenzie directs Chris Pine, Jeff Bridges and Ben Foster in this modern western where brothers turn bank robbers to save the ranch before the bank forecloses and a Texas Ranger proves his grit before mandatory retirement.

We’ve had entertaining films, interesting films and more than a fair few messy but fascinating films this year but very few new releases that feel immediately great. Well, Hell or High Water is immediately great, it is a sterling example of craftsmanship from all involved. Director David Mackenzie has been doing quality if quirky work for years (The Last Great Wilderness, Hallam Foe, Starred Up) so this feels almost like a delivery on a promise. The genre requirements dial back his more pretentious edges and he luxuriates in the mood and settings and climate. As various talents struggle to revive the Western proper, Mackenzie’s work feels fruitfully on a par with present day (or thereabouts) neo-westerns like No Country For Old Men, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada and A Perfect World. All amazing company to be in. The casting is uniformly excellent right down to one line roles, a good tombola of enthralling locals and well integrated professionals. It makes all the small interactions seem weighted with heavier subtext so that even the most human exchanges, like ordering breakfast, seems like a puzzle guarding the secrets of the universe. Maybe I just like the mythology of Texas and Texans so much I read more into these things than there ever is. This languid, measured pace also mean the violence when it erupts burns bright and hard. If you don’t forsee tragedy from the start then you clearly don’t know your way around these parts. Acting wise, Bridges marinates in the strong writing and familiar surroundings. He’s a chew of tobacco and a whiskey fart away from his Rooster Cogburn. And there’s nothing wrong with that, another Oscar nom beckons. Pine is taciturn and smouldering in the lead, like his turn in the brave failure The Finest Hours, he seems to want to pursue a very different onscreen persona outside of his franchise fare. Once again, at last, a promise delivered on. And the always overlooked Ben Foster is a scream here as the bad boy of the partnership. Aggressive, charming, barely restrained. His is the kind of home run that makes newcomers stars but no doubt despite being player of the year, he’ll go back to being fifth billed in so-so films – a sad lot for such a long serving, always grafting character actor. Not only does he prove a dynamo next Pine’s more tightly coiled performance but he beautifully undersells many of surprisingly humorous script’s best lines. Nick Cave’s score is also the stuff of denim shirt dreams.

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