Why The Hate? This Was Better Than Lawless

I'll be honest, I'm not up to par on my knowledge and history of gangsters during the mid 20th century (or much of any century for that matter).

I went into the film blind, only knowing that Scott Speedman and Kevin Durand were in the film, which was enough to warrant a viewing from me. However, I found the film, the soundtrack (especially) and the visual tone of the film to be interestingly bleak and intriguing.

I'm not really sure why this movie has such a low rating but it's miles better than Lawless, which I felt was quite contrived and under-developed (the plot should have focused more on Tom Hardy's character and not Shia Labeouf's).

For a period piece this film was also rather grounded, which is rare. Usually films like this have an air artistic whimsy about them -- the sort of Bonnie & Clyde Greek tragedy flair or bombastic elements of entertainment. I thought it was an interesting choice by the director to keep the film tonally character-driven and Speedman, while not perfect, really helped round out his performance by the third-act.

Also, was it just me or did Speedman look a little like Sean Penn near the end of the film?