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Rating: 4.5 out of 5
I wanted to watch The Harder They Fall when the trailer dropped on YouTube. I was excited because the film has an ensemble cast of some of the top young black actors and actresses in the movie industry today. I was also surprised to see this film as a western. There are few films with almost the entire cast of black actors and actresses. I freakin love it. Now, I will say that I had to look up the names of people the performers were playing, and I will tell you right now, history buffs are about to have their little asshole tight and itchy. You know what? It’s a freakin movie, and it made me want to learn about the historical figures even more. Now strap in and get ready to read about a film about vengeance and straight awesomeness.
This Netflix film, which is his first film ever, was directed by Jeymes Samuel, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Boaz Yakin. Here is a brief synopsis of what this fantastic film is about. When Nat Love (Majors) was eleven years old, he was having a peaceful dinner with his parents when Rufus Buck (Elba) and his associate Cortez arrived. Nat’s father begs Buck for mercy, but Buck shoots and kills both Nat’s parents and then carves a cross in the young boy’s forehead. That is freakin messed up. Twenty years later, Love finds and kills Cortez and sets out to find Buck. Love is tracked down by legendary lawman Bass Reeves (Lindo), who offers him a chance to get revenge. Reeves tells Love that Buck has been pardoned and released from prison and that his gang is back together, which includes “Treacherous” Trudy Smith (King) and Cherokee Bill (Stanfield). Love decides to form his own group with Stagecoach Mary (Beetz), Bill Pickett (Gathegi), and Jim Beckwourth (Cyler) to battle against Buck.
I want to say that this movie is AWESOME and so ENTERTAINING. One reason this film is entertaining is because it has an all-black cast. You really don’t see that in today’s world, especially for a Westerner. I will speak more about the cast later, but what I found interesting was the characters. Each one played a famous Western who was an outlaw or lawman. If you want to learn about the Wild West, this film will be great because many characters are actual people. I took some time to research the outlaws and found them fascinating.
Let’s move on to the actual plot of this film. I would say that it has a standard template for most Western movies. A man is seeking revenge against the person who took everything he had. In this sense, Nat wants revenge against Rufus for killing his parents. Where the film does an outstanding job is that time passes by. 20 freakin years goes by before we see a grown-up Nat take down one of the people who help killed his family. We see Bass Reeves recruit Nat to go after Rufus, who has just been pardoned. Nat has an exceptional crew from Quick Draw Jim and a few others. They know Rufus has claimed his former town.
On the flip side, the scene of Rufus’ release was FANTASTIC. It was incredible to watch and so well done. Buck’s gang, led by Trudy Smith and Cherokee Bill, stops a train. I’m telling you right now that Trudy is one badass woman. When the train conductor stopped the train, he was about to say the N-word before Trudy gunned his ass down. When they get on the train, Cherokee Bill takes complete control by giving orders to the people on the train. He is nice about it but threatens everyone. Cherokee Bill takes a soldier prisoner and manages to make his way to where Rufus is being held. Let me tell you, dude is in a freakin steal coffin. You think Rufus is the devil himself. We learn that Rufus has been pardoned and paid to kill the corrupt U.S. Army soldiers guarding the prison car. In the most gangsta stroll out of the train car, Rufus orders everyone to be killed. As he is walking past, you see people getting gunned down. Straight gangsta in my eyes. When the crew makes it back to Redwood City, Rufus beats the shit out of his former associate and demands to be paid $50k, or he will straight burn down the town.
The story goes ahead when Rufus has Nat rob a bank and bring him $10k. Nat and Cuffee go to an all-white bank and manage to rob it without killing anyone. As Nat’s crew realized what they wanted would not happen, they decided to get the one up. They put Rufus’ money in a wagon and blew that shit to hell. The scene is crazy because Bass tells one of the henchmen that he will take his right arm. All hell breaks loose with Cherokee Bill having a gunfight. Trudy Smith is battling someone, and bullets are flying everywhere.
The aesthetic and cinematography were also a highlight of this film. The whole train scene when Rufus was released was great to watch. I like the slow-motion feel of the scene where Rufus walks past his captors and his crew killing. I like how the camera showed the bullets falling at his feet while he didn’t seem to be bothered by the violence around him. Another scene was when Rufus’ crew rolled up into Redford. The scene showed that Rufus’ crew was the new law in the town, but the building looked beautiful. A final scene was when Nat and his crew attacked Rufus and his crew. When the wagon exploded, the camera zoomed into Rufus’ eyes and then back out to show the destruction. A fantastic scene.
As I stated earlier, the cast is fantastic in this film, and everyone does a great job. Here are a few individuals that stood out in this film. I feel like the supporting cast was the highlight of this film. First, Lakeith Stanfield as Cherokee Bill was the highlight for me. The way he played this character was great, but he was just so cool at it. Stanfield has a way of portraying his character as someone who doesn’t want violence but is known to shoot someone in the back. Regina King as Trudy Smith was amazing. Even though she didn’t say much, her presence was strong. You could tell she would gun you down and wouldn’t care.
Jonathan Majors as Nat Love was good but seemed to be overshadowed by the other characters. That doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy his performance. He really shined towards the end as he had his one-on-one time with the main villain. The same goes for Idris Elba as Rufus Buck. I love Elba as he is one of my favorite actors. In this one, he played Rufus as a man who looked tired, and that time caught up with him. His ending scene with Majors was great as the story was unfolded to the truth.
The Harder They Fall is a fun and entertaining western film. It is a film with an all-black cast, each person playing a real-life outlaw or lawman. Some actors performed far better than others, but it didn’t take away from the film as a whole. You will enjoy this Netflix film.
