'The Harder They Fall': Will make your jaws fall hard!
What's the story
Jeymes Samuel births a fictional story of cowboys, outlaws, and revenge with "real" characters of the Wild West in his Netflix movie, The Harder They Fall. Samuel grew up watching Western movies being whitewashed with Black people reduced to nonexistent or slaves, so he casts an all-Black cast to lead his vision of the West and the outcome is mindblowing. Here's our review.
Plot
Jonathan Majors's Nat Love seeks revenge on Elba's Rufus Buck
As the uber-stylish trailer had revealed, Nat Love (Jonathan Majors) seeks to take revenge on Rufus Buck (Idris Elba) for killing his parents, when he learns Buck has been released from prison. Helping Love would be Mary (Zazie Beetz), Bass Reeves (Delroy Lindo), and others. But this isn't easy as Buck and his gang—Trudy Smith (Regina King) and Cherokee Bill (LaKeith Stanfield)—are formidable, ruthless.
Good points
No-skip soundtrack accompanies stylish storytelling of this film
While the plot is simple and conflict has been set from the beginning, what drives the narrative ahead is the jazzy ease in filmmaking style. The novel soundtrack is an added plus. Songs like Guns Go Bang or No Turning Around are again not like usual Western movies but immensely fitting into this tale. The title track and Black Woman are super catchy.
Notes
Samuel's female characters are independent, ferocious; but still feel tokenized
Majors is unbelievably good in every frame, while Elba is portrayed as a figure above-ordinary-humans, thus making him stoic and distant. Samuel had complained about women in Westerns, white or Black, being "subservient to a male figure." But his female characters don't quite give us anything too different. Sure they are independent and ferocious, but they are still mere pieces in "battles of men."
Verdict
The makers paid tribute to Chadwick Boseman in this way
Apart from a few ups and downs, the Western drama is quite enjoyable throughout its runtime of two-hour-and-19-minutes. Also, did you notice the team paid tribute to late actor Chadwick Boseman? On two occasions, his name and initials pop up on the trains featuring in the sequences. Verdict: The Harder They Fall takes home a solid 3.5/5. It is now streaming on Netflix.