Tag: Jay-Z

Movie Review: The Harder They Fall

The Harder They Fall 

Directed by Jeymes Samuel.

Written by Jeymes Samuel and Boaz Yakin.

If you listen to my podcast, which you probably don’t, you may have heard about my long-running, completely one-sided, and mostly fabricated beef with Netflix. It stems from them constantly ending the shows I like most, and teasing David Fincher projects that aren’t Mindhunter season three. I say all that to say, I can’t stay mad at Netflix, because this is one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. This is gonna be a long review, y’all. There’s just so much to praise.

In case you haven’t heard people raving about it, The Harder They Fall is a new western movie from Jeymes Samuel aka The Bullitts aka Seal’s brother. The concept is pretty much “what if we took a staggering amount of amazing actors and had them play historical figures in a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen style western movie?” And it works! It really works!

There are so many great characters in this movie, on both sides. From the endearing Nat Love Gang to the impressively imposing Rufus Buck Gang, to the surprising yet impressive Deon Cole appearance. It’s not surprising that he was good in the movie. I was just surprised to see him there at all.  There are so many characters to talk about! I’m gonna have to resort to my old way of going through characters for this one.

The Nat Love Gang:

Nat Love: Nat Love is one of the most charming characters I’ve seen all year, due in no small part to Jonathan Majors’ impeccable handling of both drama and comedy in this role. There’s a reason Jeymes Samuel saw Jonathan in an interview years ago and said “That’s Nat Love.”

Jim Beckwourth: Mr. “Lightning with the blam blams”. From his first line, I knew I’d love him, and he’s the most fun aspect of the movie throughout the journey. RJ killed this performance and I need to see him in more roles like this.

Bill Pickett: The straight man to Jim’s nonsense. Their one-two punch comedy is probably the best thing about either character, but Edi Gathegi gives Bill his own likability.

Stagecoach Mary: Rounding out the original gang is Stagecoach Mary, played wonderfully by the always stunning and often intense Zazie Beetz. Every female main character in this movie is just as strong as (in some cases stronger than) their male counterparts, and that starts with Mary. The term girlboss is not nearly cool enough to describe Mary (and it evokes images of a White woman working at BuzzFeed or something). Mary is a leader, her singing is mesmerizing and she got HANDS!

Cuffee: In a cast full of heavyweights, Danielle Deadwyler more than holds her own. She gives a performance as strong as any of her costars. And the same can be said about Cuffee. Just take out costars and replace it with gunslingers, I guess? Cuffee’s intro shows she’s nothin’ to mess with, and she keeps proving it until the movie ends.

Bass Reeves: Speaking of nothin’ to mess with, Bass Reeves, man. He’s probably the most gangsta person in the whole movie. Every line he says tells you he means business, and he walks the walk (literally) in that last showdown. But hey, he’s the Lone Ranger. What do you expect? And it goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway. Delroy Lindo is amazing. 

The Rufus Buck Gang:

Rufus Buck: I said Bass Reeves is probably the most gangsta person in the movie, and I stand by that, but he has some competition in the Rufus Buck Gang, starting with Rufus Buck himself. In a surprise to nobody, Idris gives a perfectly menacing performance as a character that instills fear while rarely having to lift a finger. The “everybody but him” moment played in my head constantly after seeing this movie.

Treacherous Trudy Smith: Rufus’ right hand is Treacherous Trudy Smith, played by my favorite actress and certified goddess Regina King, who gives my favorite performance in the film. You have no idea how hard it was to narrow that down. Trudy spends most of the run time speaking to people who tower over her, and she never feels like she’s on the wrong side of the power dynamic. Because Regina King is the best. Also, “any one of ‘em say somethin’ that even start with N, they gon meet the same fate” might be my favorite movie line of the year.

Cherokee Bill: On the other side of Rufus Buck is Cherokee Bill, brought to life by what might be LaKeith Stanfield’s best performance? I can’t say that confidently, because dude is consistently killin’ it, and Judas and the Black Messiah came out this year. Bill is unique in his flavor of menacing. He’s surprisingly well-spoken, calm, and polite for most of the movie. And even when taking a life he has a look on his face like he just rolled out of bed. Terrifying. One of his first lines is “Let it be known that I don’t particularly enjoy violence. That being said, you are currently in the company of extremely violent individuals.” By the end of the movie I hated Cherokee Bill, but he never stops being fascinating.

In terms of story, this is a good ol’ Western revenge tale. Round up the posse and go after the bad guy. Well, that’s reductive. We get story beats from the perspective of both sides and that really helps make the antagonists feel like fully realized characters, as opposed to just obstacles for our heroes. That’s one of my favorite things about the movie. Rufus Buck has his own set of goals that have nothing to do with Nat Love. Also, the story has more twists and turns than I expected, which was a nice little treat. 

While I’d argue that the characters and performances are the highlights of the movie, the visuals are nothing to sleep on. Jeymes Samuel went OFF! The fact that this is his feature film debut astonishes me. From the comedy of the “white town” to the intensity of literal fire reflected in Rufus Buck’s eyes, the shots enhance the movie at every opportunity. And I love the shout out to Chadwick Boseman. Also, it’s more of a sound thing than a visual thing, but I love how LOUD the gunshots are in the moments of tension. Whenever a shot is isolated (not part of a whole gunfight), you feel the impact of it.

Speaking of sound, a movie directed by The Bullitts and produced by Jay-Z is bound to do some dope things with music. From the moment I heard Kid Cudi start singing on “Guns Go Bang” in the opening credits, I knew the music would be fire for this one. Then Jay-Z started rapping and that was all the confirmation I needed. Not only is the soundtrack fire (they got Ms. Lauryn Hill!), but the songs are used perfectly to fit the narrative. Dennis Brown’s “Promised Land” playing over the intro to Redwood City is such a moment. 

I could write about this movie for days, but nobody is tryna read all that, so I’ll cut myself off. I love this movie, and I’m grateful to everyone involved. Shout out Jeymes Samuel for bringing this together. I definitely recommend it, unless you’re heavily averse to violence. This movie has a whole lot of that. But everyone else, go see it. 

Tl;dr: This movie’s best strength is the exquisite cast bringing fascinating characters to life, but it shines in a list of other categories as well. Best movie of the year for me so far. 

Rating: 10 out of 10

P.S.: If you know me, you know that Remember the Titans is one of my favorite movies of all time. So the fact that Boaz Yakin (the director of Remember the Titans) co-wrote this movie makes me SO HAPPY!