The Harder They Fall

The red text that appears on the corner of an image when a film is from Netflix is often reason enough to keep scrolling for something better as the odds of landing on something worthwhile are rarely in your favour. The Harder They Fall released this month without too much hype and is directed by Jeymes Samuel, this being his third film according to iMDB, and it would have been easy to miss if it wasn't for its talented cast but I'm glad this film didn't pass me under the radar unnoticed. 

The Harder They Fall is a western taking a number of historical African-American figures and placing them within the fictional events of Samuel's story as Jonathan Majors' Nat Love seeks revenge from Idris Elba's Rufus Buck who murdered his family. Joining Nat Love in his journey are Mary Fields (Zazie Beetz), Bill Pickett (Edi Gathegi), Jim Beckworth (RJ Cyler), Cuffee (Danielle Deadwyler) and Bass Reeves (Delroy Lindo). An historian might struggle with so many characters from different periods in the American west brought together but it makes for a rich and exciting story from Samuel. 

Arguably similar in style to Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained, The Harder They Fall plays on the exaggerated violence and stylised action we saw in the former but played to great effect here which will prove to be a crowd-pleaser, even amongst those who wouldn't chose a western for their evening's entertainment. This is in credit to the film's rich visuals, Samuel's smooth direction and the talented cast. A large part of that is owed to three great performances with its villains in the shape of Ebla, Regina King and a scene-stealing LaKeith Stanfield. Majors is also brilliant as the charismatic lead who manages to hit the comedic notes as well the dramatic beats perfectly. 

The film runs twenty minutes over the two hour mark and there were moments where I felt it could have benefitted a more nimble running time but The Harder They Fall is still a lot of fun to watch and makes for an easy recommendation.