02 Nov The Harder They Fall Review

THE HARDER THEY FALL

dir. Jeymes Samuel, starring Jonathan Majors, Idris Elba, Zazie Beetz, Regina King, Delroy Lindo, et. al

The Harder They Fall, Netflix’s latest big name release, shines a light on a number of noteworthy African American figures that existed during the time of the great expansion west in the early 1900s. Nat Love, famous cowboy, assembles his crew in this revisionist Western in order to seek out revenge against Rufus Buck, the man who killed his parents and scarred him for life. While the events of the movie are completely fictional, a number of the people portrayed on screen were indeed real. Nat Love is joined by Stagecoach Mary, Jim Beckwourth, and Bill Pickett as the crew descend upon the fictional town of Redwood City to clean it up and run Buck’s Crimson Hood gang out of town for good.

The Western genre was on the decline for decades, thought all but dead in the 1970s having given way to gritty, hard nosed characters like Popeye Doyle and Dirty Harry Callahan. Thanks in large part to directors like Taylor Sheridan and others, the genre found fresh life in the early 2000s by way of the “Neo Western.” Films like The Way of the Gun, Hell or High Water, and No Country for Old Men took on the the familiar settings of the Western genre and added a modern day sensibility; each film is contemporary to the time it was made, but set in dusty, remote locations like the southwest that still exist to this day. With the advent of this new type of Western, the traditional cowboys on horseback and daring train robberies were further reduced to objects of the past, relics of a bygone era of filmmaking. With no more than a smattering of classical Westerns being released now (Hostiles, News of the World), it’s refreshing to see a return to the old ways as The Harder They Fall boasts all the comfortable, familiar tropes: cigar chomping heroes, candlelit saloons, and battles to claim the title of Fastest Gun in the West. It’s all there, with a polish that shows director Jeymes Samuel is here to both honor and elevate the genre.

Starring both Jonathan Majors and Idris Elba, The Harder They Fall proves that both actors can fit easily into any genre of storytelling they so incline to. Majors’ resume is shaping up to be as unpredictable as any working actor, moving from impactful dramas on the big screen to science fiction and comic books roles on television, and right back to big screen drama. Here, as cowboy Nat Love, Majors is the most charming he’s ever been, proving that he’s transitioning to effective leading man material while working opposite Elba and Beetz. Elba, no stranger to antagonistic roles, has incredibly little to do with dialogue, but uses that silence, along with his size and presence, to fill the screen. While his portrayal of outlaw Rufus Buck will likely amount to just another role on Elba’s resume, it’s obvious that the actor enjoyed the role and that enjoyment was captured in his performance.

Zazie Beetz and Regina King co-star in the film as well, at odds and on opposite sides of the outlaw coin. With King’s Trudy Smith, it’s all hard edges and loyal devotion to the villainous Rufus Buck. With the exception of her accent (I’m not sure what she was going for there), King is, as always, in fine form as Buck’s trusty right hand woman. Regina King never turns in a bad performance and this film is no exception. Zazie Beetz’s Stagecoach Mary is possibly done the most disservice in the film, as the character manages to land herself in an unfortunate trope that takes her in and out of the film after the second act turn. Beetz works well with what screen time she gets, simultaneously enchanted by and disgusted with Nat Love as their off-and-on, will-they-won’t-they relationship weaves its way through the film’s narrative.

Digression: the real Stagecoach Mary Fields, the first African American mail carrier in the United States, was an incredibly dark skinned woman. Here, in this film, she’s played by German American Zazie Beetz. Was her casting just to add to the already packed name recognition of the movie? Absolutely. Does Hollywood still have a long way to go when it comes to not just Black representation in film, but ensuring that all shades of Africans and African Americans can get their chance to shine, especially when portraying a real life person? Again, absolutely.

Delroy Lindo, Lakeith Stanfield, Danielle Deadwyler also grace the screen with varying levels of impact. Lindo unfortunately seems to almost disappear from the film at times (somewhat understandable, his character is more a catalyst to push Nat Love’s story), but the shortage of Stanfield is the most egregious crime. Without much to work with, Stanfield’s Cherokee Bill might have a total of 12 minutes of screen time, the actor is talented enough to portray the character in such an interesting, quietly menacing way that it’s a shame there’s not more for him to do in this film. Deadwyler, a member of Nat Love’s posse, has a great amount of character development in a short amount of time, which is a testament to the well written script.

Co-written and directed by Jeymes Samuel, The Harder They Fall draws a majority of its strength from Samuel’s direction. While the set design is sparse (the town The Big Showdown occurs in has maybe 6 buildings total and is located in the middle of nowhere), Samuel uses his creativity with the camera to craft scenes with the skill of a wily veteran. His eye for shot compositions and camera movement keep the exposition scenes humming along, ensuring the audience doesn’t bat an eye for fear of missing out. Cinematographers Sean Bobbitt (Judas and the Black Messiah) and Mihai Mălaimare Jr. (Jojo Rabbit) make liberal use of natural daylight to frame the characters, while also ensuring that after sundown, the actors are still bathed in lights of various sources. Not since Moonlight has Black skin looked so good on screen. The musical selections in the movie are absolute chaos: a mixture between an authentic score and needle drops from various genres (including reggae?! In a Western?!) somehow blend to create an atmosphere that is perfectly suitable for the scene in question. At 137 minutes, the final act action sequence drags on a little long, having to tie up a number of smaller narrative threads before giving way to Jonathan Majors and Idris Elba’s emotional showdown. Still, there’s enough fun in that final act to keep viewers hooked until the end.

Overall, The Harder They Fall is a slick, stylish affair that manages to marry the throwback Western genre with a contemporary feel that allows the sum to be stronger than the individual parts. Of course, in a genre that’s overwhelmingly devoid of African Americans in anything that isn’t a bit role, the novelty of an all Black cast here is enough to interest audiences. It’s fortunate that the film itself is more than good enough to hold that interest; the witty dialogue mixed with fun action scenes and a penchant for cheeky direction make The Harder They Fall one of the most fun home theater watches of 2021. The Harder They Fall hits Netflix November 3rd.

Review by Darryl Mansel