The first thing that crossed my mind when I saw the trailer for this movie was, 'what are they doing? there were never black cowboys!'. I was wrong as the opening credits immediately cleared my doubts by saying although the story was fiction, these people existed.
The Harder They Fall first aired on Netflix on November 3rd and has raked so many reviews here on hive already but I won't be caught slacking because I'm going to share my thoughts about this movie I misjudged.
The Plot
The movie begins with a family of three having breakfast at their table when they receive an uninvited guest and his gang. Ignoring the father's pleas, they first kill his mother, then his father, and then leave a carved mark on his forehead.
Years later, Nat Love is on a mission to avenge the murder of his parents and he starts by killing Cortez, the one who carved the cross on his head.
His gang ambushes the Crimson Hood gang and steals their loot from a bank robbery, and the only survivor from the shootout tells them that the loot belongs to Rufus Buck, the murderer of Nat's parents.
Meanwhile, Rufus Buck was being transported from one prison to another on a train and the train was hijacked by Trudy Smith and the rest of his gang. They free him and he goes back to Redwood to pick up from where he left only to find that his associate Wiley Escoe had run the town down and there was no money.
Nat agrees to his lover's plan to go to Redwood to scout the area but she ends up being held hostage and Nat had to rescue her by stealing for Rufus. He steals the money but decides not to hand it over as he plots his revenge while saving his lover's life.
My Thoughts
I had a premeditated bias about this film because it stars Idris Elba and I thought he was just there to make a shitty plot look cool. My apologies because Idris Elba has so much acting range and this turned out to be yet another exceptional performance by him.
As the movie progressed, I found myself really enjoying each of the characters and their delivery. They all embodied their roles so well and added all of the spice to the entire movie. I think it would have been a dry one if it weren't for the amazing cast.
Although, I never expected outlaws to look this clean and well-shaven. When I saw the only survivor from the Crimson Hood at the beginning I was wondering what a fine ass Damon Wayans Jnr. was doing in this supposed outlaw film. Even Nat Love played by Jonathan Majors looked too clean to be an outlaw. My idea of old-school criminals is nothing like what this movie portrayed but I'll take it.
I won't lie, it was quite long but it was an enjoyable 139 minutes if I'm being honest. There was a lot of action and it wasn't really bad at all.
My favorite character has got to be Jim Beckwourth because he was such a clown and died a foolish death. His character was a real person as are most characters but the story is fictional as stated. This had me googling these people and reading about the cowboys and outlaws of the 19th century American West.
I remember one of my favorite books, a memoir, Black Boy by Richard Wright. There really were black cowboys then in Mississippi and other towns based on his story and watching this movie puts it all in perspective for me.
There's a nice twist to the story in the end and I must say it was nicely done. As much as I liked the movie, I don't want to see a second part because it's just going to ruin it. It ends with a cliffhanger and I'm hoping they leave it at that and not go ahead to make another one.
Another great part of the movie was the music. The original soundtracks can't be missed and were really an added vibe. I was excited to hear a song by Nigerian legend, Fela in one of the fight scenes.
My rating? A 9/10. Highest rating by me so far because I really liked this and I like villains a lot.
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