The Western has always been a pretty white genre. The Harder They Fall turns that on its head. With a superb cast (Idris Elba, Regina King, Jonathan Majors, Zazie Beetz, Edi Gathgi, Delroy Lindo, Jeymes Samuel, and many others) and the best soundtrack out there, it’s an uber-stylish revenge story pitting two men and their gun-toting crews against one another in a to the death battle. And it’s a ton o’ fun!
The rivalry begins when Nat Love is just a kid and Rufus Buck (Elba) kills his parents. Fast forward to Nat (Majors, Da Five Bloods, The Last Black Man in San Francisco) ) all grown up and a notorious outlaw. He finds out that Rufus is about to be released from prison and realizes that he can finally take revenge. He gathers a crew that includes his ex, Stagecoach Mary (Zazie Beetz), a couple of his favorite gun slingers Bill Pickett (Gathegi) and Jim Beckwourth (Cyler), and along the way picks up a lawman adversary turned ally Bass Reeves (Lindo).
Then Rufus captures Mary, and Nat has two reasons to take him and his crew down. Plot-wise there’s not much more to it, though it flirts with some bigger ideas that never get explored. There’s a lot of gun-play and some good banter and a couple of strong women characters. But mostly it’s a Guy Ritchie-Tarantino sort of high body count flick that revels in indiscriminate killing. And it’s blessed with great shooting, a fabulous soundtrack you’ll want to add to your Spotify playlist, and a kick-ass cast.
And it’s on Netflix!