THE HARDER THEY FALL Review
Shootouts, tales of murder and revenge, train robberies, outlaws and sheriffs. These are just the few easy to spot characteristics of the now slumbering Western genre, a genre that back in the olden days had the strength and prevalence of modern day superhero movies. While one could hang their head on the so-called “death” of this genre, one can also discover the benefits of a genre facing slight irrelevancy. For one, no type of movie ever “dies”, they just hang back, waiting for a filmmaker to come around and try their hand at the genre through either sincere imitation or aspirational experimentation. In THE HARDER THEY FALL, writer/director/producer Jeymes Samuel tries his hand at honoring an aged genre through his own modern sensibilities and style.
Purely fictional, the film nonetheless brings together a who’s who of historical black Western icons that did their own thing in the Wild Wild West and throws them into a typical genre narrative of revenge centered around the famous cowboy, Nat Love (Jonathan Majors). Beginning with the cold-blooded murder of his father and mother at the hands of the silky-voiced Rufus Buck (Idris Elba), Love turns to the life of crime, becoming an infamous outlaw with his gang — which includes Edi Gathegi’s Bill Pickett, RJ Cyler’s Jim Beckwourth, and Zazie Beetz’s Mary Fields — at his side. After another successful train robbery, or more accurately, a robbery where Love’s gang robs another gang robbing a train, Love learns that the now-incarcerated Buck is on the loose, freed from the shackles of imprisonment by his own gang, which includes Regina King’s Trudy Smith and Lakeith Stanfield’s Cherokee Bill. With six-shooters in his hand and revenge on the mind and heart, Love, with the famous Marshal, Bass Reeves (Delroy Lindo) in tow, embark on a journey to track down Buck and bring him down.
Pretty standard stuff there sure, but narrative originality is not exactly what THE HARDER THEY FALL is aiming for here. Instead, Samuel and his team bring to the Western genre a new viewpoint and look to a genre that, at its worst, could gravitate towards the bland and (very) prejudiced. By casting a full cast of Black performers in major roles in a Western, Samuel opens up a new narrative and visual avenue for the genre, bringing to light (through fictitious methods) the images of real-life Black Western trailblazers. While the characters on screen don’t quite match the real life feats and actions of the real life people they’re based on, Samuel’s idea of putting them all in a movie fighting against each other creates a sort of Super Smash Bros type convention of icons, resulting in some truly dynamite sequences.
With such a breadth of icons to work with and expand on, it only fits that THE HARDER THEY FALL brings together a pretty staggering amount of Black talent to portray these subjects. As the hero of the story, Mr. Majors certainly fits the look of your classic Western protagonist with a tall and sturdy build backed by a generically cool demeanor. Majors isn’t tasked with doing much heavy lifting but he certainly understands the ways to make even a blandly heroic character into someone worth rooting for. Instead, the characters both supporting Love and fighting against him make more of their presences felt with standouts including Mr. Cyler’s entertainingly brash young shooter, Jim, who develops a humorously bristly rivalry with Mr. Stanfield’s unflinchingly violent and calm, Cherokee Bill, a type of off-kilter character Stanfield specializes in. As the main antagonist, Mr. Elba plays to the tune of Majors, letting his look carry his performance moreso than his actual performance, which is composed of weighty enough threats but overall fails to alter much of his black-hat character.
While Samuel does well to bring Black voices to the forefront of the Western genre, it’s a bit of a shame that his female characters, while certainly getting their moments of shine in regards to action, feel a tad retro. Ms. King, ever the professional, sells her reliability as Buck’s right hand woman but even so, she still feels a bit side-lined once the men all get together to duke it out, resulting in a fight scene that’s noticeably out of the way and between just her and Ms. Beetz’s Mary, a sequence where even the slick composition and entertaining physicality can’t mask the “guys only” feeling of the film’s climax. Indeed, Beetz, also ever the reliable actor also brings her fair share of grit to the outlaw-turned-business owner Mary but as with King, her character slowly gets pushed into a conventional damsel in distress for Majors’ Love. However, even as old Western conventions (intentionally or unintentionally) make their way into Samuel’s film, the filmmaker’s visual style pushes once more against the genre.
Taking the typical visual icons of the genre (small dusty towns, open vistas, orange glowed interiors), Samuel and his production team embrace the theatrical side of their story by having these tried and true settings embrace its exaggerated history. With a bright color palette, THE HARDER THEY FALL’s stage-like settings entrap its characters into a sort of dreamlike environment that at the best of times, reveals the playful creativity of its creator, particularly in the tongue-in-cheek sequence set in an entirely White populated town (whose structures are of course, all painted stark white). At its best, when Samuel combines both the old and new aspects of the genre — displayed in the much more frantic and stylish shootouts of the film’s entertaining third act or in the strange mixture of squips and CGI blood — THE HARDER THEY FALL soars. But even all the shine of the production can’t quite elevate a plain revenge story that doesn’t have much emotional weight behind it, leading to a last minute plot reveal that feels like a haphazard add on.
Ending on a pretty humorous (and almost horror tinged) set up for a possible sequel, THE HARDER THEY FALL clearly shows that Jeymes Samuel and his team are raring to tell more stories in this new world of theirs. Even with its faults, this is a film that makes for an interesting swerve in a well-trodden genre. To an old genre, Mr. Samuel, with eccentric charm, brings something new and boisterous to the table in a way that would make the outlaws of old tip their hat to him.
3/5
