Movie review: The Harder They Fall
This hits the target of being a streaming film you will wish to see on the big screen.
The Old West revenge tale - currently showing on Netflix - is a bold feature debut for writer-director-producer Jeymes Samuel (also known by his stage name The Bullitts).
It is bright, stylish, entertaining and thrilling - and packed with great performances.
Samuel has worked primarily as a composer and was music supervisor for Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby (2013).
You can see some parallels to Luhrmann in that in parts, The Harder They Fall almost turns musical, so in sync is the movement to the music.
And what music - a mix of Samuel's own compositions and old and new found tracks from Fela Kuti, Kid Cudi and Jay-Z.
It has been said that there is a touch of old-school Tarantino to the direction, but it is far from being that reductive.
Samuel has infused enough rhythm and purpose to the camera movements to make this stand out on its own terms.
And then there are the performances.
As Nat Love, the outlaw who only robs from outlaws, Jonathan Majors gets to show more of the charisma we saw in Loki and Lovecraft Country. At times, his moves are less of a gunslinger and more of a choreographer.
To go through the entire cast would take too long but as lieutenants of Idris Elba's Rufus Buck, Regina King and LaKeith Stanfield are as magnetic as they are deadly.
And a shout has to be given to Delroy Lindo, who adds that gravitas as real-life marshal Bass Reeves.
The Harder They Fall is a perfect mix of everything you want from a western - Eastwood or Leone - embellished with Samuel's fresh vision.
Smart dialogue, stylish action, blood and bullets.
The violence can spill over from stylised to brutal, such as the beating administered by Buck to Deon Cole's sheriff. It is M18 after all.
Granted, it is a tad long at around 140 minutes and losing 15 minutes could make it 100 per cent killer.
But this is one of the most entertaining films of the year and in Samuel, it gives us a new name to watch out for.
FILM: The Harder They Fall
STARRING: Jonathan Majors, Idris Elba, Regina King, Delroy Lindo, LaKeith Stanfield, Zazie Beetz
WRITER-DIRECTOR: Jeymes Samuel
THE SKINNY: After hearing that the man who murdered his parents, Rufus Buck (Elba), is out of prison, Nat Love (Majors) reunites his gang to seek revenge.
SHOWING ON: Netflix
RATING: M18
score : 4/5
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