The Harder They Fall

 

                                       This is the second time in my life where I screamed at the TV and said F**K YOU, while watching a movie. Though granted this was by accident. The Harder They Fall is one of those films that has promise of greatness and looks to be intriguing when you watch the trailer and see Idris Elba's face on screen, moreover the Netflix main menu screen. But then you begin to see that this film is not what you think it is and you slowly see that it's not all promising and at times, boring. Now, I'm a huge Western's fan been one my whole life started off with the Great John Wayne classic’s and loved watching any modern-day Western's like 3:10 to Yuma and Django Unchained. But, with this film it seems like the director James Samuel aka The Bullitts has never seen a Western and if he had, he obviously doesn't know what the audience wants when it comes to making a Western movie.

                                       When an outlaw discovers his enemy is being released from prison, he reunites his gang to seek revenge.

                                        It's a real complicated thing to talk about when you’re making a genre that has been around for a long time and is very traditional. I guess what I'm trying to explain is when you make a western you must follow certain laws of what makes a western movie or show work, and one of those examples is to tell the harshness of what makes westerns work, the theme. Westerns often stress the harshness and isolation of the wilderness, and frequently set the action in an arid, desolate landscape. Western films generally have specific settings, such as isolated ranches, Native American villages or small frontier towns with a saloon. Now granted this film has all of these aspects when it comes to making a western story it has revenge story, it provides constant small towns with a saloon's and it has some real life outlaws for which I've never heard of for which I give compliments, but the thing that throws me off about the film is that it’s more of a talking western than it is a traditional western, and sure you can say Quentin Tarantino changed some laws of Western genre but he was a student to Western films he took constant notes on what makes them great. This film is an example of more talk and less action, will lose some of your audience. Though granted there is some action in the film but very few of it, and I didn't realize it until I finally got to the maybe second act (I couldn't tell in all truthfulness) and there was about forty minutes to go, then I started to feel bored with the movie. And it really wasn't just the length of the film, it was also more of the characters making not so smart decisions in situations in which you'd get caught or taken hostage, and that's one of the rare few times I began to question in the films potential. And sure there are some action sequences but there were times I can look at an action sequence and tell that its predictable and the final shootout was a clear example of predictable and this was Outlaw against Outlaw, there shouldn't been any honorable motives among another outlaw there really should be no mercy especially one scene were both gals unload their guns and duke it out, in all honesty I was kind of hoping they would out least just unload their gun on their challenger when they realized they just lost. Now, I'm sorry if I am spoiling details in the ending of the movie but this was one of those twists that threw me out of it, just like Batman: Gotham by Gaslight, where the twist ending seemed stupid on so many levels. So, in the final confrontation of the movie, you'd think there would be a quick draw duel between our protagonist and Idris Elba, but of course we didn't get that, no we just have Elba in a monologue talking about his past and his father, AND THEN he reveals that him and the protagonist of the movie ARE BROTHERS! Which I was like OH HELL NO, moreover screaming F**K YOU, and I'm sorry but it's one of those things I couldn't accept because for starters it was way too late in the movie to address they both had the same father also when you have a final confrontation between the good guy and bad guy you have to have a quick draw duel, that's just simple as that we have to root for the protagonist till the very end but really when it came to this movie I just lost interest in every one of the characters in the movie. I give James Samuel some credit at least he had some good ideas made a good soundtrack, but when it comes to directing and telling a story in the old west, you must have a lot of action sequences and story motives to follow your good guys till the very end, and most importantly "show, don't tell" that’s really one of the golden rules to follow when you’re making a movie like this. I can't say that this was the worst movie I've seen because in all honesty I've seen far worst movies than this, but I would consider this one of the most boring films I've seen, deep down this film has some interesting ideas I like the fact that they have in all-star African American cast but the story itself just falls flat on itself after the first twenty minutes of the movie till the very end.