Rating of
3/4
What if Spike Lee made a John Ford western?
Indyfreak - wrote on 12/21/21
Hyper stylized and violent western featuring a mostly black cast portraying characters that are based off historical figures from the Old West. Jonathan Majors plays famed black cowboy Nate Love who's re-imagined as a vengeful vigilante seeking notorious bandit Rufus Buck (Idris Elba) and his vicious gang. He's joined by other bounty hunters and lawmen to bring the outlaw to justice.
The movie has some pretty good shootouts and zippy action beats. The big climactic shootout at the end is a highlight. Compared to a lot of recent westerns that look drab and gray, THE HARDER THEY FALL is very colorful and vibrant to look at. It's a nice touch that the movie references actual real-life people although I should caution it's quite romanticized.
Unfortunately, Jonathan Majors is just not that interesting as the protagonist. It doesn't help that a lot of the more interesting characters happen to be the bad guys like Idris Elba, Regina King, and LaKeith Stansfield. Idris Elba is especially good as the charismatic but villainous Rufus Buck. There are other cast members that fare better such as R.J. Cyler as a hotshot gungslinger and Delroy Lindo is fantastic casting as real-life lawman Bass Reeves.
I will say that while it does have a good start and a solid finale, the middle portion does drag in parts. But most of the cast is good enough to make it worth a look. And the directorial style is almost Tarantino-lite so it's interesting when it comes to the action and some of the one-liners.
