A thematically rich and emotionally pulsating script elevates the superb performances and masterful filmmaking featured in the exceptional Hell or High Water.

They say it always begins with the script. Yet rare is that screenwriter whose words defines a generation.  Chadefsky (Network). Hughes (The Breakfast Club). Tarantino (Pulp Fiction). Sorkin (The Social Network). Let’s save a space for Taylor Sheridan, who after the immensely intense and content complex Sicario (unfairly snubbed for an original screenplay Oscar) returns with Hell or High Water, a modern-day set crime western that delves into the themes of right, wrong, law and capitalism with a righteous heart that pulsates within the grey of a morality tale where the pursuit of money turns good men bad.

Directed by David MacKenzie (who follows the excellent Starred Up), Hell or High Water stars Chris Pine as Toby Howard, a divorced farmer and good man who along with his estranged ex-convict brother Tanner (Ben Foster) robs several banks to pay off the reverse mortgage on their later mother’s farm (there is more to it, but best left for viewing).

On their trail is soon to be retired Texas Ranger Marcus Hamilton, portrayed by Jeff Bridges with his now patented gruff southern accent that is much more coherent under McKenzie’s watch, which is a blessing as Bridges delivers many of Sheridan’s best lines especially in the back and forth with his partner, the half Mexican, half Native American Texas Ranger Alberto Parker (Gil Birmingham).

The life of the on-screen outlaw is one that’s always romanticised, yet not necessarily made sympathetic. However, McKenzie and Sheridan effectively make their protagonists just that by having them turn the screws on a common enemy: financial institutions (or more specifically, banks). Sure, banks have always been fodder for the western genre. Yet in this post “Occupy Wall Street” world of gross financial inequality, the wrongs committed by these brothers (and their crimes are indeed wrong) have more than a sense of righteous justice to them.

The excellent, on-key performance from its cast help achieve that. Chris Pine adds tacky moustache and weltered frame to play a man of much smarts and heart but little to show for it, the result of generational poverty which he is determined to break for the sake of his children. Pine delivers a performance of much soul and introspective power, in what is his finest turn yet.

Great too is Ben Foster who portrays the ying to Pine’s yang: brash, unpredictable, and dangerous, Foster’s Tanner is a creation both frightening and charismatic, the kind of guy you want on your side in a gunfight, and the kind you would dread if you crossed him in anyway.

Through the words of Sheridan and the vision of MacKenzie, Hell or High Water is a masterful film of action, mood, and reflection; topical yet never hammer-on-the-head heavy in its preach, a film to contemplate and most definitely to praise. Hopefully Sheridan gets his due when awards season rolls around.