The Harder They Fall (2021)

By: Mike Ward on Sunday, November 28

R Running Time: 139 mins

SHOULD I SEE IT?

YES

Jeymes Samuel’s breakout film, The Harder They Fall, leaps off the screen as a fearless, modernized Western with a predominantly all Black cast and a whole host of storytelling bravado.
The Harder They Fall features one of the most entertaining and impressive ensemble casts of the year.
Samuel’s film is polarizing, but wears its influences and instincts squarely on its sleeve. It is a hyper-violent, shotgun blast of a film that commands your attention through and through.

NO

Those influences though may play too obvious and too recognizable and make the film feel derivative in some ways.
There have been complaints that by using real-life characters, but fabricating their stories and placing them in roles counter to who they really were, does a disservice to the legacy those real-life individuals created for themselves.
Those with a sensitivity to films with a lot of violence, may want to skip The Harder They Fall.

OUR REVIEW

For the opening hour or so, writer/director Jeymes Samuel blows the doors off with The Harder They Fall, a modernized take on the traditional Western, with a largely all-Black cast and a fearless bravado, tone, and presentation.

Samuel, whose previous film, 2013’s They Die at Dawn, was a 51-minute trial run of sorts on what this film would ultimately become, begins with an emphatic statement that these people existed and the following events are fictional. Samuels, who co-wrote his film with Boaz Yakin (Now You See Me), brings real-life historical figures from the post-Civil War era of the American West to the forefront. The story presented is completely fabricated, but the historical figures are at least steeped in some reality.

Criticisms have been levied at Samuels for this decision, though many forgive Quentin Tarantino’s similar approach to using historical characters to craft alternate history in 2009’s Inglourious Basterds. Tarantino has also made his own revisionist history Western twice with 2012’s Django Unchained and 2016’s The Hateful Eight. I am always fascinated at who gets a pass for certain things and who doesn’t, but perhaps that’s a conversation for another time.

In The Harder They Fall, Samuels digs in deep with characters who soon align to two different camps. Following an intense opening flashback that uses tragedy to scar a main character’s childhood in more ways than one, we settle in with bank robber Nat Love (Jonathan Majors), leader of the Nat Love Gang, on a mission to enact revenge on the perpetrators who changed his life forever. A chance encounter with someone from that day has bloody results and soon the focus is clear. Find Rufus Buck.

Buck, played here with diabolical, unsettling calm by Idris Elba, has his own fleet of vigilantes at his side and looks to take control over Redwood City. And ultimately, in its most simplistic form, The Harder They Fall is about the eventual squaring off between Nat Love and Rufus Buck. Really, the film can be distilled to something as simple as that.

So why is this 139 minutes? Well, Netflix films generally have limitless running times and are, more often than not, desperately in need of one more trip through an editing bay. And Samuels, gifted as he clearly is as a storyteller, with enigmatic vision as a director, simply enjoys himself in this setting.

His influences are apparent: Tarantino is a natural comparison, in terms of how he frames shots and paces his story. You can pick up some Spike Lee, with the way Samuels introduces characters and takes some narrative walk-arounds before settling back into the main story. More homage than ripping off style, Samuels is talented enough to stand apart from his inspirations, but it is hard to not see the gears turning in his mind as he crafted his breakthrough film.

Among the cast, Majors is solid, Elba intense. Featured prominently are three strong female characters: Regina King portrays Trudy Smith, a gun-toting saloon owner who aligns with Rufus and will do anything for the cause and man she has adhered to as much as endorsed. On the other side, Cuffee, portrayed by Danielle Deadwyler, is part of the Nat Love Gang and always down for a rumble/ She oversees another saloon owner in Stagecoach Mary (Zazie Beetz), whose on and off-again relationship with Nat brings her into the fold in new and unanticipated ways.

As a reminder, the first hour of The Harder They Fall slaps. When Samuels is rolling out these characters and taking the time for us to see where their loyalties lie, how willing they are to throwdown, and get an overall understanding of their motivations - the film is entertaining as it pops its collar and puffs up its chest a bit.

As more supporting characters arrive, the likes of which are played by Delroy Lindo, Lakeith Stanfield, RJ Cyler, Deon Cole, and others, the novelty becomes diluted a bit. Everyone takes a side, but the story is far too simple to support the weight Samuels and Yakin place upon it. This is, to its core, a revenge tale, from an incident we observe in the opening minutes. By the time we get to the payoff, with a twist of sorts that feels forced and tacked on, the piling up of bodies, the blood squibs, and the betrayals and violence starts to become somewhat tiresome.

Samuel has a great film in here. Unfortunately, the longer this goes, we recognize where we are headed long before Samuel takes us to the film’s final destination

If that final act is a disappointment or the film wears on you, The Harder They Fall keeps us engaged with a banging soundtrack, stylish costumes designed by Antoinette Messam, impressive cinematography (Mihai Malaimare Jr.), and an authentic scorched earth production design that is as sparse, desolate, and hot-to-the-touch as an old saloon town ought to be.

CAST & CREW

Starring: Jonathan Majors, Idris Elba, Zazie Beetz, Regina King, Delroy Lindo, Lakeith Stanfield, RJ Cyler, Danielle Deadwyler, Edi Gathegi, Deon Cole, Damon Wayans Jr., DeWanda Wise, Julio Cesar Cedillo, Chase Dillon

Director: Jeymes Samuel
Written by: Jeymes Samuel, Boaz Yakin (screenplay); Jeymes Samuel (screen story)
Release Date: October 22, 2021
Netflix

Jeymes Samuel’s breakout film, The Harder They Fall, leaps off the screen as a fearless, modernized Western with a predominantly all Black cast and a whole host of storytelling bravado.

The Harder They Fall features one of the most entertaining and impressive ensemble casts of the year.

Samuel’s film is polarizing, but wears its influences and instincts squarely on its sleeve. It is a hyper-violent, shotgun blast of a film that commands your attention through and through.

Those influences though may play too obvious and too recognizable and make the film feel derivative in some ways.

There have been complaints that by using real-life characters, but fabricating their stories and placing them in roles counter to who they really were, does a disservice to the legacy those real-life individuals created for themselves.

Those with a sensitivity to films with a lot of violence, may want to skip The Harder They Fall.