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    The Film 

The film:

  • Angst? What Angst?: Maggie displays surprisingly little angst over being brutally gang raped. The next time we see her, she's calmly announcing that she's leaving town. But one quick conversation is all that convinces her to stay, and she doesn't seem to have been affected at all by the rape.
  • Best Known for the Fanservice: It's known for the full-frontal nudity from Jessica Chastain, as Seth MacFarlane documented in his infamous "We Saw Your Boobs" Oscar song.
  • Cliché Storm: Accused as such in this review.
  • Complete Monster: Charlie Rakes is an utterly corrupt Special Deputy of the commonwealth who demands a cut of the profits of the bootlegger heroes, The Bondurant Brothers Forrest and Jack. Rakes initiates brutal beatings and torture to get his way, and sends two mobsters to cut the eldest brother's throat and rape his girlfriend. After another conflict with the Bondurants, Rakes captures their friend Cricket and snaps his neck, simply because he's angry they called him a "nance."
  • Ensemble Dark Horse: Despite her limited screentime, Jessica Chastain's Maggie is noted to be one of the best characters in the movie.
  • Ham and Cheese: Guy Pearce knew he'd been given a caricature of a role and committed to it in the best way possible.
  • Just Here for Godzilla: Some praise Tom Hardy's performance as the only reason to watch the film.
  • Memetic Badass: Forrest is one in-universe. Nobody seems particularly surprised when they heard he walked twenty miles to hospital with his throat cut. It turns out that Maggie drove him there, but the fact that he survived long enough for her to do that is still quite impressive, and he certainly lives up to his Made of Iron reputation at the climax.
  • Moment of Awesome: Howard howling before treating Rakes' shotgun-wielding goons to a Mook Horror Show and beating them up in melee combat is quite impressive.
  • Moral Event Horizon: Everyone in town considers Rakes to have crossed this when he murders Cricket, the friendly and harmless crippled boy.
  • Narm Charm: Rakes is every cliche of the Sissy Villain played hilariously straight, but Guy Pearce commits to the material and makes him somewhat entertaining.
  • One-Scene Wonder: Gary Oldman as mobster Floyd Banner. He only appears in a couple of scenes (and only directly interacts with one of the main characters) but damn, is he memorable.
  • So Okay, It's Average: With a cliched plot and characters, the film would otherwise be completely forgettable. However a few well-done action sequences and performances from Tom Hardy, Jessica Chastain and Shia LaBeouf bring the rating up a bit.
  • Spiritual Successor: This movie shares a lot of tropes with The Proposition, which was also directed by Hillcoat, written by Cave, scored by Cave and Ellis, and featured Guy Pearce as a law-enforcing criminal named Charlie. Most importantly, both are about three outlaw brothers.
  • Tear Jerker: Cricket's death.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
    • Some reviewers noted that Jessica Chastain's Maggie was one of the most interesting characters in the film, yet got minimal screen time.
    • Floyd Banner only appears in a couple of scenes, but Gary Oldman's performance left many annoyed that he's killed off so abruptly. It was noted that Floyd would have made a better villain than Rakes.
  • Uncertain Audience: The film is shot and paced like it's aiming for the arthouse crowd, but the caricature that is Rakes and some shocking gore leans more towards the tone of Taken.

    The 2000 AD comic 

The 2000 AD comic

  • Funny Moments:
    • Lawson asks two scavengers in a claim dispute why they didn't realize a guy named "Dodgy Frank" Dodger was giving them fake documents.
    • After Lawson disappears, Pettifer declares "Who am I, Mr. Grossums? That's right. Damn straight. I am the law in these parts." Mr. Grossums is her teddy bear.
    • A flashback shows that, even as a child, Pettifer fantasized about being a Desk Jockey and would notarize forms for her dolls.
    • Pettifer Shaming the Mob after all the good she, Lawson, Jaroo, and Rondo have done.
      Lawson: Let's not complicate this oration by trying to crowbar Rondo in as a legitimate force for good, huh?
      Rondo: Hey!
    • Lawson orders Rondo to make signage for the town. His signs include "Keep Ou" (He ran out of space for the T) and "Population TBD" (He thought TBD stood for Totally Badass Dudes rather than To Be Decided, which Lawson wrote because she hadn't finished a head count).
    • The Nose Art on the Munce Corporation aircraft as they fly to destroy Badrock.
    • Texana Pincher, The Dreaded black-clad, psychopathic, Corporate Samurai asks if she can honk the horn of the giant bulldozer she's commandeered.
    • The Badrock Melody, a musical number about Badrock sung by most of the town, including several main characters.
      Whole Town: It's the town that puts the "drokk" into "Badrock!"
  • Heartwarming Moments:
    • Hetch might be a psychic mass murderer but he expresses genuine concern when he notices Pettifer has skipped several breakfasts due to rationing.
    • Tinkerton gives a scavenger more than their previously agreed-upon price so he can move his family inside the city walls in preparation for the Munce Corporation's attack.
    • Hetch goes on a Journey to the Center of the Mind with Pettifer to help her deal with the stress of covering up the murder of an abusive husband. He reassures her that her compassion, sense of justice, and willingness to bend the rules are positive traits that make her a good fit for Badrock.
    • Realizing the humans' aversion to Organ Theft, Sawbones donates his own centrifuge pump as a replacement for Rondo's heart.
    • The Mek community's willingness to set off an EMP weapon to destroy the Humongous Mecha that Munce will use to destroy Badrock even though the weapon would also kill all of them.
    • In her vision of a possible future, an elderly Lawson refers to Pettifer as her best friend.
  • Tear Jerker: Hetch has a psychic vision of Munce's attack on Badrock and narrates the deaths of several characters while we watch it happen.

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