By: Andrew Wing

The Harder They Fall is a 2021 American Western film directed by Jeymes Samuel in his feature film directorial debut, who co-wrote the screenplay with Boaz Yakin (directed Remember the Titans and Safe). The film stars Jonathan Majors (The Last Black Man in San Francisco, Lovecraft Country), Idris Elba (The Wire, Beasts of No Nation), Zazie Beetz (Atlanta, Deadpool 2), Regina King (Ray, If Beale Street Could Talk), Delroy Lindo (Malcolm X, Da 5 Bloods), Lakeith Stanfield (Get Out, Atlanta), RJ Cyler (Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, I’m Dying Up Here), Danielle Deadwyler (Paradise Lost, Station Eleven), Edi Gathegi (Twilight film series, The Blacklist), and Deon Cole (Black-ish, Barbershop).

It is one of few Westerns whose principal cast members are all Black. Its characters are loosely based on real cowboys, lawmen, and outlaws of the 19th-century American West. The plot itself follows Nat Love (Majors), a man gunning for revenge who saddles up with his gang to take down his enemy Rufus Buck (Elba), a ruthless crime boss who just got sprung from prison.

The Harder They Fall had its world premiere at the BFI London Film Festival on October 6, 2021. It received a limited release on October 22, 2021, prior to streaming on Netflix on November 3.

THE GOOD

You’re really going to have to start referring to me as the respect police, because like I did with two movies I recently reviewed, Passing (see my full review here) and Together Together (see my full review here), I watched them months before writing the actual review. The reason was because of how shocked I was at the lack of respect and notoriety these films got, and The Harder They Fall might have been the most shocking. To take you back in time, I knew the second I saw the trailer for this that it was going to be a must-watch. I mean it’s a modern take on the Western genre with its all-black cast, and the cast itself was maybe the most powerhouse cast of the year. From Idris Elba, Regina King, to two of the biggest young actors in the industry right now in Jonathan Majors and Lakeith Stanfield, I was not going to miss this one once it came to Netflix. But enough of the jibber-jabber, let’s get into my review and find out why this film was deserving of more praise than what it got!

I mean it’s only right that I start out with “The Good” section by addressing this powerhouse cast, right? Well good, because that’s what I’m going to do. The characters in this film are all based on real people that were living in the west at the time, and as much as I loved some of the other stuff in the film, the cast was hands down the most fun part of this movie. I don’t know how he did it in his feature film debut, but Jeymes Samuel somehow assembled an absolute all-star cast. Everybody was great as they nicely divided up the screen time so all of the big names got their own sort of moment and their time to shine. It was so hard to pick a favorite from the film, but I’d say that mine would have to be Jonathan Majors. Majors played his role so damn good as he portrayed this charming yet extremely violent cowboy who is seeking revenge for his father. I just think he was the number one standout for sure and it helps too that he was the main character so we got the most out of him. He was great throughout but he really shined at the end of the film when the movie shows you a different side of that character towards the end in a way I didn’t see coming.

Yes, I picked Jonathan Majors as the best of the bunch, but all the supporting performances were awesome. First with Idris Elba. Elba was amazing as he played the villain in the film, Rufus Buck, and he was as intimidating as he’s ever been in his acting career. There were others too that shined at the very end like Regina King who was quietly fierce the entire movie, and I really think that’s the best word I could use to describe her as an actress, “fierce”. I just reviewed Nine Days (see my full review here), a movie that featured a great Zazie Beetz performance and now I’m reviewing this, another movie that features you guessed it, another great performance from her as she was really good. Oh, and she sings in this too, and she crushed it. There were so many more performances too that were great like Lakieth Stanfield as the terrifying gunslinger Cherokee Bill, RJ Cyler as the uber-confident Jim Beckwourth, Delroy Lindo as the old-timer U.S. Marshal Bass Reeves, and last but not least, Danielle Deadwyler as Cuffee, a character who is inspired by Cathay Williams (google search that name if you want to learn about her amazing story). This was the first thing I’ve seen from Deadwyler, but I feel it won’t be the last as she is set to star as Mamie Till-Mobley in her next film titled Till, which is set to come out in 2022.

While the performances from the cast were arguably the best part of the film, the direction from Jeymes Samuel in his feature directorial debut was by far the most impressive. This movie was a freaking blast. I have always loved the Western genre and with this movie’s new and modern take on the genre, it was so fun. And all the credit for that belongs to Jeymes Samuel. There have been a lot of good directorial debuts from 2021, but Samuel belongs near the top of that list. He clearly has a love for the Western genre too as this movie was composed of some amazing gunslinging scenes, ridiculously intense standoffs, and so many more quips of the genre. He just had fun with it in all the ways you’d expect, but he really puts his own spin on it with the production design, costumes, and the music, all of which are things that I will touch more on later in the review. He just gives a different flavor to the Hollywood depiction of the west and it was so cool because it's a fact that there were black cowboys back in the day. It’s just we have never seen a film centered around them and I’m so glad this is one of the first films to do so!

His direction was phenomenal, but the writing he did alongside Boaz Yakin in this was just as good. There was so much awesome dialogue and the film also contained some twists and reveals at the end that I definitely didn’t see coming, and that’s always a testament to the writing. Overall, I just found myself completely invested in this story and I appreciated every decision they made with the script. I’ll just hit on the same point again, but it was really so nice to see the western genre revamped like this and the way they wrote this film made that the case. I just hope after getting this story that we get more films like this where the Western genre is one that everybody can relate to, because well, why shouldn’t that be the case?

There was so much more I loved about the film, and the technical elements here were responsible for that as they were all superb. First, this film was very well shot thanks to cinematographer Mihai Mălaimare Jr., who is most known for shooting PTA’s The Master, and I think every shot in this film looks pretty gorgeous. The cinematography throughout was super dynamic too and the one scene that shows that the most is the train scene. It also was beautiful thanks to the lighting and colors in every scene, and I loved how this version of the west was very vibrant rather than that dusty look we usually get. As for the production design and the costume design, they took an opportunity to reinvent the west and everything was just so well put together. But before I finish up, I need to bring up undoubtedly the best element of all the technical elements, and that would be the film’s soundtrack and score which was also done by the multitalented Jeymes Samuel. The film blends the soundtrack and score so much, but no matter what I call it, it was so much fun and it added a ton to the movie. Lastly, it’s an absolute shame that the film’s main song which was done by Jay-Z and Kid Cudi, “Guns Go Bang”, that played over the opening credits sequence didn’t get nominated at the Oscars because it was easily one of the best original songs of 2021.

THE BAD

There is definitely no denying that this film was one of the more enjoyable films of 2021. I don’t have a lot of negative things to say about it, but I will say that sometimes it felt like they were maybe over-focused on style rather than substance and story. Samuel definitely executed his vision as I already said, but it just felt that the story sort of came second and followed after the vision. I know I just said I loved the story, and I did, but I definitely wanted to know more about a lot of the characters. But that’s the tough thing when you have an all-star cast like this, it’s impossible for you to get all you want out of them, but I certainly think there’s some potential for a sequel or even a prequel spinoff series type of deal where we can come to know more about some of the main players in this film and how they came to be.

Aside from that, I loved this film so much. I really don’t know why it didn’t get much love from the big awards bodies. Maybe they dismissed it as this Netflix movie that was just a “fun western”, but this film was super unique and there were plenty of places it could’ve and should’ve gotten some awards consideration.

THE VERDICT

Fueled by an energetic soundtrack, The Harder They Fall is a grand slam directorial debut from Jeymes Samuel that is just dripping in style. Samuel perfectly executed his vision as he created a film that absolutely revamps the Western genre we’ve known for decades. It’s helped out significantly by the all-star cast that included Jonathan Majors, Idris Elba, Regina King, and Lakeith Stanfield just to name a few.

Sure, maybe they focused more on style rather than substance, but at the end of the day, I would give this movie a very broad recommendation. If you like westerns, action, or even just fun, you need to check this one out ASAP!