The Harder They Fall (2021)

Director: Jeymes Samuel
Writer(s): Samuel and Boaz Yakin
Starring: Jonathan Majors, Zazie Beets, RJ Cyler and Edi Gathegi

The Harder They Fall opens with an act of brutal violence: A man enters the home of a family who has just sat down to dinner. He acts like he is only coming to talk, but before we know it, he is gunning down the mother and father in cold blood - right in front of the eyes of their young son, who is forced to watch it. The man then makes his way over to the kid, and instead of finishing him off, carves a cross in his forehead, before leaving just as quickly as he came. 

Flash-forward to the present day. The kid - who goes by the name Nat Love - has grown up, but he clearly hasn’t forgotten the events from a decade prior: When we first see him, he makes his way to a church, where he guns down a preacher. But we’re informed this wasn’t just some random killing: The preacher, who has clearly cleaned up his life and become a “different man”, was the one who forced Nat to watch the murder of his parents. Clearly, he is out for retribution, and while the murder of the preacher is a good start, he has his eyes set on someone much higher.

That man is Rufus Buck (Idris Elba), who clearly hasn’t changed his ways. He is the type of man where the mere mention of his name is enough to strike fear in the hearts of any who hear it; to see him is to know that you’re dead. In the beginning, he is on his way to prison, but so great is his reach that he is officially pardoned in mid-train ride. That doesn’t stop his group from gunning down the military men whose job it was to transport him to jail. 

Nat gets wind that he is out, and the rest of the film is a very slow build-up to the inevitable showdown between the good guy, and the man who murdered his parents. 

The idea behind this Netflix production is to take a look at the Wild West from the perspective of Blacks, featuring characters who share the name of actual outlaws during that time. But, aside from the racial switch that was no doubt precipitated by public outcry regarding a lack of minorities in film instead of just being the norm all along, it’s a rather disappointing, all-too-predictable effort that basically takes the formula of a “white” western, and replaces it with people of color. And it adds a hip-hop soundtrack and plenty of bad language to give it a more “woke” feel. 

It might just be me, but I feel like the recent slate of films made by Blacks, females and those in the LBGTQ+ community are more of a Hollywood PR campaign in disguise as a genuine interest in putting minorities behind the camera. The film industry has long been the target of people who felt like their voices weren’t being heard; talented minority filmmakers who weren’t given an opportunity just because they weren’t the “right” race, or the “right” gender. And what did they do? Ignore them. Sure, maybe they “tossed a couple” projects their way just to make it look like an effort - no matter how half-assed it was - but they did nothing to truly change the culture of an industry in desperate need of a change.

Until now. A time when people can collectively unite over the internet and have the power to make change. Until the voices grew so loud that they could no longer plug their ears and ignore it. Until the public demanded something be done about the archaic way Hollywood has done business, and wouldn’t take no for an answer. It’s disgusting, really, but this is the world we live in. 

And maybe I’m way off base. After all, as a white male, what right do I have to speak on behalf of those who have actually faced bias, and racism? Those who have been slighted? Those who have been turned down of opportunities simply based on the color of their skin, or their gender? None, really. 

I’m not at all slighting the people who made the film. The cast is uniformly excellent, especially Jonathan Majors as the outlaw Nat Love. While he’s mostly the cool, calm and collected Western “good guy”, who straddles the line between what’s right and wrong (and sometimes crosses over into the latter), there is a moment toward the end of the film when his emotions finally catch up to him. He’s broken down, his mask of “coolness” completely removed and replaced with a flurry of emotions that you not only clearly see on his face, but that you can feel. It’s rare for a moment of acting to send chills down my spine, but he manages it.

Idris Elba (who is made to look like a star in the trailer, but plays more of a supporting role) is also solid in another villain role as Rufus Buck. As usual, he is always relaxed even in moments of extreme stress; it actually feels kind of like a retread of his character in “The Wire”. He’s the type of villain who oozes evil, the type of person who functions as almost soundproof evidence against those who feel like “there is good in everyone”. 

Aside from the cast, though, the story is too predictable, and the 2-hour plus runtime is completely unnecessary. A couple of the action scenes are riveting, but the final gunfight - which should be the pinnacle of any western; the entire setpiece that the story is leading up to - is shockingly ho-hum. I expected something that would justify its duration, and was instead met with a disappointing finish that

It’s just a shame that, as brilliant as the cast is, not even they can overcome a derivative script that, despite its alternate viewpoint of the Wild West, feels way more familiar than it ought to.

RATING: 5.5/10

Bone Tomahawk (2015)

Director: S. Craig Zahler
Writer(s): Zahler
Starring: Kurt Russell, Patrick Wilson, Matthew Fox, and David Arquette

Horror/comedies can be a tricky thing already; that’s double the case when the brunt of your material tackles serious themes.  Most horror/comedies utilize ridiculous premises that naturally allow the silliness to thrive, but Bone Tomahawk goes the opposite direction, throwing attempted laughs in a movie that should not be funny.  And that’s the problem: it isn’t funny.  Most horror writers aren’t comedy writers, which is evident from the ill-timed jokes here.  I’m a little confused as to what purpose the humor serves—is it supposed to take some of the sharpness off the graphic kill scenes and intense atmosphere?  Or is it thrown in there simply to murder all forms of momentum the film was hoping to achieve?  It does both.  Because of this, Bone Tomahawk is merely an average movie that could have been a great one.

For a little over the first half of its bloated run-time, Bone Tomahawk plays like a straight western: As the film opens, two thieves murder several men at a campsite, then steal their possessions.  When one of them is suddenly slaughtered, the remaining survivor, Purvis (a sleazy and well-played David Arquette) escapes to the nearby town of Bright Hope, where Sheriff Franklin Hunt (Russell) presides.  Hunt’s old, but trusty deputy Chicory (Richard Jenkins) notices Purvis drinking himself into a stupor in a local bar, and senses something is wrong with him, so he notifies Hunt.  A few moments later, and Chicory’s senses are confirmed, leading Hunt to shoot Purvis in the leg, then haul him off to jail.

They then call the town doctor, Samantha (played by a beautiful Lili Simmons) over to take care of his wound.  But things take a turn for the worse when Samantha, Purvis, and Nick, another deputy, all wind up missing, an arrow stuck in a wall the only shred of evidence as to what happened to them.  Hunt consults with a local Native American, who informs him that only one clan hunts with arrows like that—a primitive tribe of cave dwelling Indians known as “Troglodytes”.  The Native American refuses to guide them on their journey, and warns that going after them is suicide.  But Hunt and Chicory are joined by Arther O’Dwyer, Samantha’s husband, and John Brooder, a man who boasts killing “more Indians than all of you combined.”  Oh, and he also has a thing for Samantha.

So the four of them set out for the caves; according to Hunt, they are making a five-day trek in three days, and it starts to feel like real-time after a while.  It doesn’t help that all the key parts of the journey, are pretty much all tired Western clichés: the random attacks from outlaws, injuries requiring brutal surgery, the stolen horses resulting in forced travel on foot, the obligatory (simulated and off-screen) animal cruelty…it’s all here, and it all feels very, very familiar. 

Then comes the ending, which features a much talked-about kill sequence that was picked as the #1 kill scene of 2015 by none other than Fangoria magazine.  As graphic as it is (and as impressive as the practical effects work is—there is no CGI used at all in this movie), its effectiveness is lost in a movie that tosses out jokes like candy, and features characters that are too cool to be bothered with petty little things like emotions (seriously, three characters watch a person get brutally slaughtered, and none of them ever scream, or cry, or even talk about it afterwards). For some, this "coolness" is the reason this film is praised, but for me, it just rang with a hollow emptiness.

There are two things that Bone Tomahawk does incredibly well: The first, is Kurt Russell.  He carries this picture on his back.  The other actors do admirable jobs, as well, but this is Russell’s picture, and he picks up right where he left off twenty years ago with Tombstone. Here, he plays the clichéd honest and hardworking sheriff that we’ve seen a million times, but Russell rises above the familiarity to deliver an excellent, if somewhat subdued, performance.

Secondly, director S. Craig Zahler (who is at fault for the tedious screenplay) proves that he’s at least adept at wringing tension from simple scenarios.  His Wild West feels like a menacing landscape where violence can erupt at any given time, especially as they get closer to the Troglodyte’s hideout.  This is the kind of atmosphere that many Westerns try to cultivate—after all, this is a time period known for its violence—but very few succeed as admirably as Zahler does here.  That at least helps to make up for some of his own downfalls.

In the end, this is a potentially great movie undone by an identity crisis; it blends often idiotic dialogue played for laughs, with sometimes shocking, graphic violence that’s meant to disturb.  It tries to have its cake and eat it, too, but the two extremes work in direct competition with each other, rather than in tandem, making Bone Tomahawk the perfect example of a film that tries to do too much, and in doing so, ends up doing not nearly enough.

RECAP: Director S. Craig Zahler gets massive mileage out of Kurt Russell’s amazing performance, and also wrings as much tension as possible out of the slow-burn story.  However, he’s compromised by his own screenplay, which frequently goes for laughs that contradict the otherwise intense atmosphere.  There’s also a very fine-line between a “slow-burn” story, and a boring one, and this one conveniently falls into the latter category.  Aside from the genre blendings, there's really nothing original on display here, either, with a rather familiar Western story giving way to a rather familiar horror tale in the finale.  Worth a look for Kurt Russell fans, or those that are into Westerns, but everyone else should approach with caution.

RATING: 5/10