The Harder They Fall (2021) is a western film with a complete Black cast as the main characters portraying real people who existed back in the day in a fictional story. It's a tale of revenge split between the outlaw group whose leader is hunting the people that did him wrong and the outlaw group whose leader did the wrongdoing. As a whole in terms of story, it's nothing new, but where this movie shines and gives you a fresh experience is in its execution.
From the getgo, you can tell that this is a passion project for Jeymes Samuel, the director and co-writer, who wanted to give a unique or different feel to a well-known genre. The madlad also did the soundtrack and worked tightly with the cinematographer and editor so that his clean and polished vision of westerns can be properly brought on to the screen. The film is oozing with style and slickness as all the technical elements synergize together properly and seamlessly flow. It looks great and sounds great, and the odd mix of hip-hop and classic western music works surprisingly well.
The main attraction of the film, though, is the amazing cast. Idris Elba, Jonathan Majors, Lakeith Stanfield, Regina King, Zazzie Beats and the rest of them were on top of their game and since they were inhabiting colourful/interesting characters, it was an absolute blast watching them go at it. Couple that with fun and often interesting dialogue and I could watch these characters interact with each other for a long time.
While not a full-blown action film, whatever thrilling scenes it did have were entertaining and bloody. The pacing can be slow for long stretches, though, as you go through the 140 mins runtime while things are being set up but it's not boring. I was enjoying the characters a great deal regardless of whether they are shooting each other or are just conversing. In fact, the first 40-50 mins or so were amazing. I was hooked and was loving the larger-than-life feel of some of the characters as well as the visuals and sounds accompanying it. It's a pleasure in a Home Theater.
However, where the movie faltered for me was in the second half where it lost some of that steam and intrigue. The biggest issue for me was that the writing couldn't balance all the main characters well and some remained on the sidelines throughout as well as the expectations that get built up early on and not being delivered fully. There was also a lack of Idris Elba that kinda annoyed me and I was so wishing that the creators could somehow channel Tarantino to have long stretches of dialogue for key scenes. I kinda wish they focused a bit less on the romance and more on the smaller characters as well as the personal vendetta.
Also, the final shootout, while thrilling and enjoyable, did ask for a lot of suspension of disbelief. The stormtrooper aim got ridiculous at points. And had the movie ended that way, I would have been disappointed but thankfully it had a trump card that was played wonderfully in the end and brought it home nicely even if I wish it was given a few mins more.
All in all, this was a welcome surprise. I honestly wasn't expecting to get something fresh from a genre that has been done so many times but here we are. Sure the film has its faults that keep it from being a truly great experience for me but it is still damn good and I'd recommend it without a second thought. It's on Netflix, so you can easily access it. And if I were to rate it, I'd give it a 7.8/10.
From the getgo, you can tell that this is a passion project for Jeymes Samuel, the director and co-writer, who wanted to give a unique or different feel to a well-known genre. The madlad also did the soundtrack and worked tightly with the cinematographer and editor so that his clean and polished vision of westerns can be properly brought on to the screen. The film is oozing with style and slickness as all the technical elements synergize together properly and seamlessly flow. It looks great and sounds great, and the odd mix of hip-hop and classic western music works surprisingly well.
The main attraction of the film, though, is the amazing cast. Idris Elba, Jonathan Majors, Lakeith Stanfield, Regina King, Zazzie Beats and the rest of them were on top of their game and since they were inhabiting colourful/interesting characters, it was an absolute blast watching them go at it. Couple that with fun and often interesting dialogue and I could watch these characters interact with each other for a long time.
While not a full-blown action film, whatever thrilling scenes it did have were entertaining and bloody. The pacing can be slow for long stretches, though, as you go through the 140 mins runtime while things are being set up but it's not boring. I was enjoying the characters a great deal regardless of whether they are shooting each other or are just conversing. In fact, the first 40-50 mins or so were amazing. I was hooked and was loving the larger-than-life feel of some of the characters as well as the visuals and sounds accompanying it. It's a pleasure in a Home Theater.
However, where the movie faltered for me was in the second half where it lost some of that steam and intrigue. The biggest issue for me was that the writing couldn't balance all the main characters well and some remained on the sidelines throughout as well as the expectations that get built up early on and not being delivered fully. There was also a lack of Idris Elba that kinda annoyed me and I was so wishing that the creators could somehow channel Tarantino to have long stretches of dialogue for key scenes. I kinda wish they focused a bit less on the romance and more on the smaller characters as well as the personal vendetta.
Also, the final shootout, while thrilling and enjoyable, did ask for a lot of suspension of disbelief. The stormtrooper aim got ridiculous at points. And had the movie ended that way, I would have been disappointed but thankfully it had a trump card that was played wonderfully in the end and brought it home nicely even if I wish it was given a few mins more.
All in all, this was a welcome surprise. I honestly wasn't expecting to get something fresh from a genre that has been done so many times but here we are. Sure the film has its faults that keep it from being a truly great experience for me but it is still damn good and I'd recommend it without a second thought. It's on Netflix, so you can easily access it. And if I were to rate it, I'd give it a 7.8/10.