The Harder They Fall (Jeymes Samuel, 2021)
This is mostly about being black. If you were in any doubt: there are no 'white' people in the film at all until a scene is a town over which the words WHITE TOWN appear in very large size, and all the buildings are painted white. The black people kill all the white people in the bank. They also rob a train and kill all the white people except one who knows how to drive a train.
In fact, that's just about all that happens in this film: people killing people. When the black people run out of white people to kill, they start killing each other. The final massacre sequence has the two main guys, who are apparently the 'good guys', though I have no idea why, doing that thing where they shoot the 'bad guys' dead without bothering to take aim, just turning their guns (which have limitless ammunition) in the general direction of the bad guy and bang.
There are also references to musical genres, reggae, ska etc, and you could say that this film is actually also a musical (tho not much like Oklahoma!) because characters do sing a bit of this and that.
It's a film with a little bit of something for everyone (who is black). There are a couple of tough women who dress like men (bowler and top hats) and behave aggressively. And apparently also a homosexual romance between two effeminate men, one of whom actually wears a dress at one point. They all get killed. Everyone gets killed - except a couple of characters so that there's someone to say the last lines.
Whatever. I was just glad when it was all over, and proud of my endurance. Read something sensible about it elsewhere. I can't be bothered taking it any more seriously than this.
IMDb.com does this Metacritic thing where it gives you one sentence from each of a number of critics and a link to the whole review. It's brilliant. It's exactly what I've been trying to do for years, but on a minute scale by comparison. It helps if you have a number of paid staff instead of just old guy.
Here's an example for this movie:
100
RogerEbert.com
Matt Zoller SeitzOct 22, 2021
The Harder They Fall is a bloody pleasure: a revenge Western packed with memorable characters played by memorable actors, each scene and moment staged for voluptuous beauty and kinetic power. Read full review
100
San Francisco Chronicle
Bob StraussOct 20, 2021
If The Harder They Fall doesn’t make Westerns popular again, I don’t know what can. Read full review
90
Film Threat
Alex SavelievNov 14, 2021
Almost every scene impresses, has something to say. How refreshing is that? It’s been a while since a major studio production entertained and enlightened to such a degree, with nary a wrong step, for over two hours. If you can stomach the violence, you’re in for a hell of a ride. Here’s to the Western revival. I’m all about Jeymes Samuel leading this gang. Read full review
90
IGN
Hanna FlintOct 6, 2021
The Harder They Fall both subverts and embraces the Western tradition with some spectacular shootouts, slick dialogue, and a top-notch ensemble cast firing on all cylinders. Add a rollicking soundtrack to all of that and you’ve got fun and suave modern Western that smartly places a Black narrative squarely at its center. Read full review
88
USA Today
Brian TruittNov 2, 2021
With a pair of Hollywood gunslingers, a few solid twists and plenty of bullets, The Harder They Fall is a shoot-’em-up to remember. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-Times
Richard RoeperOct 21, 2021
Even with all the shootouts and robberies and action sequences, this is also a wonderful showcase for screen-stealing acting, with virtually everyone in the all-star cast getting some center stage moments and knocking it out of the park. This is one of those movies where we sense the cast had just as much fun making it as we have watching it. Read full review
83
Vanity Fair
Richard LawsonOct 25, 2021
Samuel, who is also a musician under the stage name The Bullitts, makes an auspicious debut as a feature filmmaker. He knows when to deliver the expected punch and when to add his unique flourishes. The Harder They Fall trots along with invigorating confidence, a vision keenly realized. Read full review
83
Original-Cin
Liam LaceyOct 21, 2021
The Harder They Fall aims for, and mostly hits the target, with a double-barreled blast of entertainment and historical reclamation. Read full review
80
Total Film
Jamie GrahamNov 8, 2021
Trumpeted by Netflix as a ‘new-school western’, The Harder They Fall in fact takes the staples of old-school westerns (bandits, bank jobs, train robberies, rowdy taverns, shootouts) but blends them all together in a manner that feels fresh and vibrant. Read full review
80
Screen Rant
Rachel LaBonteNov 4, 2021
The Harder They Fall is a crowd-pleasing and worthy addition to the Western canon that knows how to have a good time with a familiar story. Read full review
80
We Got This Covered
Martin CarrOct 26, 2021
This bombastic Western debut heralds a new voice in cinema. Read full review
80
Little White Lies
Cheyenne BunsieOct 25, 2021
The Harder They Fall is a thrilling feature debut from Jeymes Samuels, redefining the movie western for a modern age. These. People. Existed. And we want more. Read full review
80
The Independent
Clarisse LoughreyOct 22, 2021
Every aesthetic decision here seems carefully made, even down to the brightly painted frontier towns (the historically accurate choice), which play in jokey contrast to a literal “white town”, in all meanings of the phrase. That’s what makes The Harder They Fall feel so thrilling – it’s a film that exists in the past, present, and future, all at the same time. Read full review
80
Arizona Republic
Bill GoodykoontzOct 20, 2021
It’s clear that Samuel has seen his share of Quentin Tarantino movies, and some John Ford and Sergio Leone ones, as well. There are influences all over the place. But The Harder They Fall is also its own film, familiar in some ways but wholly original. And a whole lot of fun. Read full review
80
Time Out
Julio BrunoOct 7, 2021
If The Harder They Fall occasionally feels like a collection of music-video riffs, each with its own momentum and rhythm, and it drags a touch in the middle, that stylised energy and ridiculously charismatic cast makes it a ride. Read full review
80
Variety
Peter DebrugeOct 6, 2021
As much fun as Majors, Elba, Beetz and King are to watch in roles that allow for plenty of scenery chewing (and oh what scenery!), it’s Stanfield who steals the show here as the part-Indian, part-Black Cherokee Bill. Read full review
80
Screen Daily
Wendy IdeOct 6, 2021
Big, bombastic and full-blooded, Jeymes Samuel’s neo-Western might tick off plenty of the tropes of the genre, but the outlaw energy he brings to the picture makes it feel, if not fresh exactly, then certainly a whole lot of fun. Read full review
80
The Hollywood Reporter
Leslie FelperinOct 6, 2021
The cast has chemistry in all directions, between the romantic matchups but just as much among the menfolk as they bicker, bond and berate one another. Read full review
80
Empire
Whelan BarzeyOct 6, 2021
Packed with style, charm and a barrel-full of shrapnel for good measure, The Harder They Fall will still be standing when the smoke clears. The Bullitts doesn’t miss. Read full review
78
Austin Chronicle
Sarah JaneOct 25, 2021
I bet Samuel had the time of his life making this, 'cos it shows. It’s violent. Holy crap, is it violent. It’s unrelenting. It’s bleak. It’s also entertaining as hell. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Sarah-Tai BlackOct 26, 2021
Buoyed by its urgent yet playful references to the real-life history of the Black West, Netflix’s newest genre outing The Harder They Fall is an energetic and poppy crowd-pleaser of a film made even better by its punky indifference toward staid conventions of period filmmaking. Read full review
75
Chicago Tribune
Michael PhillipsOct 21, 2021
You could also say The Harder They Fall consists on a diet of flourishes. Read full review
75
Observer
Rafael MotamayorOct 13, 2021
The Harder They Fall may not be the second coming of the Western genre, but it is a highly entertaining film with inspired performances by Majors and Elba, and a thrilling debut from Jeymes Samuels, who makes the case for more movies like this to redefine the Western genre for a new generation. Read full review
75
The Playlist
Rodrigo PerezOct 6, 2021
When it rides off into the sunset, what you’re left with is a diverse, reimagined fable of iniquity, holy retribution, and comeuppance that is as entertaining as it is surprisingly soulful. Read full review
75
IndieWire
David EhrlichOct 6, 2021
This tense, propulsive, and ultra-glossy Netflix oater might lay a thick new Jay-Z track over the opening credits (of a film that he also produced) and assemble an Avengers-worthy team of obscure Black icons from across the entire 19th century into a single explosive shootout, but Samuel has little interest in letting his film be ascribed to fantasy or lumped in with the rest of its genre’s revisionist streak. Read full review
70
Rolling Stone
K. Austin CollinsNov 9, 2021
The Harder They Fall is a good piece of wish-fulfillment pop. It knows what it is. It’s accomplished enough not to be mistaken for what it isn’t trying to be. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)
Bilge EbiriNov 5, 2021
The picture may not fully cohere, but it has an infectious energy all its own. The Harder They Fall is a mess, but it’s a fun mess. Read full review
70
Paste Magazine
Kevin Fox Jr.Nov 4, 2021
It’s worth watching at least once for the spectacle of the vibrant colors and great performances, and to be introduced to real historical characters, even if audiences must look far from the film to figure out what they were actually like. Read full review
70
Slashfilm
Chris EvangelistaOct 29, 2021
Sometimes you want to sink your teeth into a gourmet meal, and sometimes you want junk food. Stylish, entertaining junk food. And that's what this is. So dig in. Read full review
63
The Associated Press
Jocelyn NoveckOct 20, 2021
The violence is expertly choreographed, but some of us surely could have done with less bloodshed (there are Tarantino-esque flourishes here, too) and more dialogue to deepen some of the tantalizing relationships Samuel introduces. Read full review
60
The New York Times
A.O. ScottNov 4, 2021
Samuel makes the most of his formidable cast. If anything, he may be overgenerous. The narrative sometimes flags so that everyone can get in a few volleys of the salty, pungent dialogue on the way to the next round of gunplay or fisticuffs. Read full review
60
The Guardian
Peter BradshawOct 6, 2021
Every shot, every scene, every exchange from The Harder They Fall is combat-ready and garishly tensed for violence – and Samuel certainly brings the freaky mayhem, with gruesome relish and high energy. My feeling, though, is that there is a diminishing return on it, and the big reveal at the end is slightly silly and somehow retrospectively discloses that we haven’t really found out enough about Rufus Buck’s backstory. Read full review
58
The A.V. Club
Ignatiy VishnevetskyOct 21, 2021
The gonzo factor (sadistic violence plus multiple music numbers) is intermittently engaging. The characters, not so much. Read full review
58
The Film Stage
Alistair RyderOct 14, 2021
Instead of breaking new ground, The Harder They Fall often feels reluctant to innovate—a love letter to classic westerns that initially succeeds at homage, only to find itself succumbing to cliche. Read full review
50
Boston Globe
Mark FeeneyNov 3, 2021
The movie is mostly grim, largely nasty, and gloatingly violent. (It is never a good idea to start a film with a child subjected to violence.) Really, what Harder is is glorified, post-Tarantino violence punctuated by exposition. Read full review
50
Los Angeles Times
Justin ChangOct 21, 2021
Surely the truth (or something close to it) of who these men and women were must have been more fascinating, and more worth mythologizing, than what transpires in this strained mashup. Read full review
50
Time
Stephanie ZacharekOct 6, 2021
The Harder They Fall is fueled by Tarantino-style energy and grim wit, and if nothing else, it’s a spectacle—those glossy, muscular horses, and the gorgeous people riding them, are almost enough to carry a movie by themselves. But this picture works so hard at entertaining us that it strips its own gears; its churning style can’t quite keep the story going. Read full review
50
TheWrap
Robert AbeleOct 6, 2021
As a representative display of historical-but-reimagined players on well-worn ground, The Harder They Fall has undeniable pop, but as a movie needing character, narrative, and pacing beyond revitalized nostalgia, it’s all too often a bloody, showy mishmash that rarely holds its clichés and archetypes together with any lasting resonance. Read full review
40
The Telegraph
Robbie CollinOct 6, 2021
It feels like a Blazing Saddles gag writ large – no bad thing – and the jab of Mel Brooks humour it provides feels considerably more inspired than the hackneyed split screens, freeze frames and wobbly zooms which are regularly deployed in the rest of the film for winking grindhouse cred. Read full review
38
Movie Nation
Roger MooreNov 4, 2021
As he fills the screen with an A-list that includes Oscar winner Regina King, Idris Elba, Delroy Lindo, LaKeith Stanfield and others, peppers the dialogue with a Tarantino-load of Samuel L. Jacksonisms and layers the soundtrack with reggae, hip hop and R&B, Samuel goes beyond parody and settles on just grating. Read full review
30
Wall Street Journal
John AndersonNov 4, 2021
To call The Harder They Fall transgressive would be giving it too much credit: Its various outrages are obnoxious because they have so little to do with anything like a story—which, for all the subplots and posing to come, is about payback for that first scene. Read full review
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Garry Gillard | reviews | New: 5 March, 2022 | Now: 5 March, 2022